CLEMSON, S.C. – Playing the first two games to kickoff the Tiger Invitational, Fordham University softball defeated Mercer Friday to split their first day of action down South this weekend. 

Opening the day an hour earlier than originally scheduled, Bailey Enoch and Neleh Nogay would tally a run apiece in game one, as the Rams fell 3-2 to Longwood. Fordham would bounce back in the early afternoon, using a big fifth inning to score three runs, while Holly Beeman tossed a complete game, helping her side to a 3-2 win over Mercer.

Striking early in game one Longwood would score a pair of runs in the top of the first, but the Rams managed to get one back with a leadoff home run by Enoch, her fourth of the season to make it 2-1.

With a pair of runners on, Nogay would tie the game in the bottom of the fifth with a sacrifice fly, but a final run by the Lancers in the sixth proved the difference in game one and Longwood held on for a 3-2 win.

A quiet start to game two, both offenses were held off the board for nearly four innings, before Mercer broke the deadlock with a single run in the bottom of the fourth. Quick to respond, the Rams rallied for three runs their next turn at the dish, beginning with a 2-run homer off the bat of Sydney Wells to flip the score and put her side up one.

Bella Ayala would tack on another run for the Rams later in the frame on a single to right field, and from there, Beeman would keep the Bears off the board, giving up just one run in a complete game in the circle, to earn her fourth win of the year.

Fordham continues action at the Tiger Invitational when they take on Minnesota Saturday at 10:30 a.m.