Arlington, Texas – Fordham softball capped a 3-1 weekend at the Boerner Invitational with a Saturday sweep of Northwestern State, 5-3, and UTSA, 8-6. With the wins, the Rams improve to 6-9 overall heading into Wednesday's home opener.
Fordham never trailed against the Lady Demons in a rematch of yesterday's loss.
Kelly Bright put her team on the board in the second with a two-run double and
Sarah Taffet tacked on two more with a clutch two-out, two-run triple. Freshman
Emilee Watkins made her first career start after dealing with a recent injury and limited Northwestern State to no runs over her first three frames before running into trouble in the fourth. A lead-off error led to all three runs scored by the Lady Demons being unearned as Watkins loaded the bases with a pair of walks sandwiched around a pair of infield lineouts.
Bailey Enoch took over in the circle and the runs scored on a walk and a single, though the sophomore and later
Makenzie McGrath would keep the opponents off the board the rest of the way. A fifth but ultimately unnecessary run came in the fifth frame when
Julia Martine scored on a wild pitch.
Game two saw a combined 14 runs and 22 hits and several lead changes. A lead-off solo home run by UTSA was erased with some small ball in the second – Martine singling, getting bunted over, stealing third, and scoring on Taffet's sac fly. Two scoreless innings led to another solo home run by the Mavericks but in the top half of the inning,
Rachel Hubertus' two-run shot, scoring
Allie Clark, put the Rams back in front. The lead changed once again through a three-run UTSA home run, 5-3, but again Fordham responded immediately, this time with
Brianna Pinto smacking her third career home run, also with two runners on, to take the lead for good, 6-5. The Rams added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh on a Martine RBI single and a
Michaela Carter RBI fielders choice.
In the circle,
Devon Miller got the start and allowed two runs over four innings but it was Enoch to pick up her second straight win of the day in relief. McGrath came back on and allowed just one run over two frames out of the pen.
Freshman
Allie Clark led the squad by batting .500 with a pair of runs, with three others batting over .300 this weekend. The Rams offense as a whole slashed .284/.363/.422. Enoch picked up both wins with a 2.47 ERA over 5.2 frames, while McGrath led the pitchers with 9.1 innings, striking out seven and allowing three runs.
Fordham returns to the Bronx to host Wagner this Wednesday, March 9, at 3 p.m. for its home opener.
