Softball Splits Doubleheader with Dayton to Wrap Regular Season, Clinch Second Seed

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Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham softball sent its graduating Class of 2022 out in style with a win in game two, 6-3, of Sunday's doubleheader with Dayton, falling in game one, 7-6, after rallying to erase a five-run deficit. With the day's results, the Rams move to 27-19 overall and 15-7 in league action, securing the second overall seed at this week's Atlantic 10 Championship and a first-round bye.
 
The Flyers got to Devon Miller early in game one, plating four runs, one unearned, on two home runs and a single. Emma Schutter had started the inning with a single but Amanda Carey threw her out attempting to steal. Emilee Watkins entered the circle and held Dayton to two runs over a season-high five innings of relief, striking out three, before giving way to Bailey Enoch, who allowed Watkins' last batter, Nicolette Papavasiliou, who had singled to lead off the seventh, to score on a two-out double by Megan Gist.
 
Fordham got on the board in the second on a fielding error that allowed Enoch to score, then made up the entire five-run deficit with a big rally in the fifth. Brianna Pinto and Michaela Carter each singled, the former eventually scoring on a Julia Martine single and the latter scoring on another fielding error. Miller singled to right to load the bases and Julia Petrovich, pinch-hitting, drove in the fourth run with a groundout. With two outs, Carey stepped up with a booming two-run double to left to score Enoch and Mallory McClellan, the latter pinch-running for Miller.
 
The Rams rebounded in game two thanks to the pitching of Makenzie McGrath and the bat of Sydney Wells. The Flyers struck first for a pair of runs on two, two-out RBI singles by Emily Daniel and Schutter, but Fordham returned the favor in the bottom half of the frame with a lead-off solo home run by Wells into the tennis courts beyond left field. Just the next inning, it was Wells again, this time roping a bases-clearing double into left centerfield to score Enoch, Martine, and Rachel Hubertus, the latter serving as the eventual winning run. In the fourth, Martine narrowly missed a home run but still tripled in Hubertus and Enoch then drove her in with a single down the left field line. The Flyers added a third run on a Katie Reeg single in the seventh but McGrath worked out of trouble.
 
Six Rams enjoyed multi-hit performances, three in each game, with Enoch and Miller also drawing walks. Wells led the way with four RBIs. McGrath finished with her 10^th victory of the year, striking out five, and going the distance for a 10^th time in her career.
 
The second-seeded Rams will playing either #3 Saint Joseph's or #6 Massachusetts on Thursday, May 12, at 2:30 p.m. A win would propel them into Friday's first game of the day, at noon, but a loss would force them to play immediately after.