Softball Wins the 2022 Atlantic 10 Championship

A-10 Photo Gallery | Game 1 Highlights | Game 2 Highlights
 
Fairfax, Va. – Fordham softball is back atop the Atlantic 10 conference!! The Rams secured a ninth league championship with a 6-3 victory over top-seeded George Washington on Saturday at George Mason in a do-or-die second championship game, reversing an earlier 6-3 loss. Fordham, 30-20 on the year, now await placement at this week's NCAA Regionals, a trip that the program has made now 10 times.
 
"What a week of great softball, playing together as a team and having fun." Head coach Melissa Inouye, now a two-time A-10 champion, said, "We truly felt that we were battletested throughout the season to prepare us for this postseason. So proud of this team for their continued growth all season and for competing their hearts out. Our pitching depth was a huge key to our success and it really showed this weekend. Our hitters did a great job trusting their approaches, too, and having quality at-bats."
 
Fordham entered Saturday needing to win just one game, after winning its first two contests the previous two days, including a 1-0 shutout of the Colonials on Friday. George Washington got its revenge in game one, overtaking an early 1-0 Rams lead with a four-run third. In the first, Michaela Carter doubled and scored on Bailey Enoch's two-out single to center. Enoch nearly cut a 6-1 lead to one in the fifth, missing a grand slam by inches, but still drew a walk to drive in a second run. Rachel Hubertus smashed her 17^th home run of the season and 39^th of her career in the seventh to cap the offense.
 
The Rams wasted no time in setting the tone in game two, plating two runs in the first and never looking back. Carter and Hubertus were each hit by Sierra Lange and Enoch drew yet another walk. Carter scored on a fielder's choice on the next play and Devon Miller came up with a clutch two-out single through the left side. The Colonials halved the lead with a two-out RBI single by Maddie Spell in the second. The run came right back, though, in the third on Enoch's opposite-field line drive home run.
 
The fourth was eventful for the Rams, adding two insurance runs on Brianna Pinto's double down the left field line to score Amanda Carey, who had led off with a double to right, and Bella Ayala, who had singled, and knocking Lange out of the game. The Colonials added a second run on a sac foulout to deep left field, the second in a row on a nice run and grab by Carter, and a third in the exact same fashion in the sixth inning. In between, Hubertus scored Pinto from second with a single in the sixth to make it a 6-2 lead at the time. Miller worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning, capped by a Lange flyout to Carter in shallow left, to seal the title.
 
Enoch was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player for leading the offense with a ridiculous .556/.733/.889 slash line with five hits, one a home run, five walks, three RBIs, two runs, and a stolen base. She also made two relief appearances and picked up her seventh win to go with a 3.23 ERA over 4.1 innings. Devon Miller and Amanda Carey were also named to the All-Championship team. Carey had three hits but all were of major impact - the walk-off single on Thursday, the double preceding Pinto's go-ahead double on Friday, and the aforementioned double that sparked the rally that resulted in the go-ahead run, also driven in by Pinto. 
 
Saturday was Miller's second complete game in a row, earning wins 10 and 11 on the year, with just three runs allowed over her 14 frames this week with 13 baserunners and six strikeouts. Rounding out the staff was Makenzie McGrath, who pitched to an 0.81 ERA over 8.2 frames with five of her six runs unearned.
 
The NCAA Selection Show will air at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.