Amherst, Mass. – Fordham softball opened up a three-game series at UMass with a sweep of Saturday's doubleheader, 9-0 in five innings and 7-2, including
Devon Miller's fourth career no-hitter in game one and a combined five home runs by
Bailey Enoch (3) and
Rachel Hubertus (2) over the two contests, plus two others, as well. With the wins, the Rams improve to 14-14 overall and 6-4 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Minutewomen fall to 10-19 and 3-4, respectively.
"We did a great job setting the tone right away by hitting the ball hard and being aggressive, yet remained disciplined at the plate." Head coach
Melissa Inouye said, "Devon did a good job spinning the ball and Amanda did a good job working with her. Mak competed hard, got stronger as the game went, and Sydney was able to get her some key pitches."
Game one was action-packed from the start, with a first-inning Enoch grand slam, and ended with Miller's fourth career no-hitter. Enoch finished with her first multi-home run game of her career, blasting a solo home run the opposite way in the fourth, too, while
Rachel Hubertus also notched her 10
th dinger of the season, a three-run shot in the third inning. The Rams made it an eight-run game in the third when an error in the field on
Allie Clark's single allowed pinch-runner
Gigi Speer to score from second. Four hitters notched two hits apiece, the other two being Clark and
Michaela Carter.
Miller allowed four walks but not hits, while striking out six over her five frames. She's now got two perfect games and two no-hitters in her Fordham career.
Game two again began with a bang, with two runs on a Clark sac fly, scoring
Brianna Pinto, who had walked, stolen second, and advanced on a throwing error, and then a second Hubertus home run, this time of the solo variety.
Sarah Taffet got in on the home run party with an opposite-field two-run shot in the second, scoring
Sydney Wells, and
Julia Martine added a lead-off solo home run in the third. The Minutewomen chipped away with one run each in the third and fourth frames but Enoch completed her hat-trick with a two-run shot in the fifth to cap the day's scoring for both teams.
Makenzie McGrath struck out a career-high nine batters, three more than her previous best that she'd done twice this season, while enjoying her eighth career complete game. Five different Rams notched a hit apiece in game two, with Pinto and Martine each walking, as well, as did Wells.
Sunday's series finale has been moved up to an 11 a.m. start due to impending rain in the forecast.
