By MATT ROSENFELD
SPORTS EDITOR
After starting the season off slowly, the Fordham softball team closed out its non-conference schedule on a 10-game winning streak, which included a win over the fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns in Orlando.
The Rams looked to carry that momentum into conference play just before Easter break when they traveled down to North Carolina to take on Charlotte in the team’s first Atlantic 10 competition of the year. Fordham left Charlotte 0-2 after dropping two close games with the 49ers.
Fordham did not struggle on offense, scoring 15 runs in the two games combined. On the defensive side, however, the Rams did not come to play. Fordham had five errors in the two games, many of which allowed Charlotte to score their 19 runs in the series.
“Our biggest thing in the Charlotte games was that we played no defense,” Fordham head coach Bridget Orchard said. “We might have come out a little nervous. We had a bad day as a team and made a lot of routine errors.”
The Rams did not let the two losses haunt them. After a 3-2 non-conference win at Iona, Fordham came back to the Bronx for its home opener against La Salle. The Rams were able to sweep the doubleheader against the Explorers on March 28, getting back on the winning track and bringing its conference record to an even .500.
Senior Jamie LaBovick was the star of the first game, a 5-1 win against La Salle. LaBovick pitched a complete game, giving up only one run on two hits and striking out six. It was not only in the circle where the senior excelled; she also went 2-4 at the plate, including an RBI double in the fourth inning.
The rest of the Rams gave LaBovick plenty of run support. Fordham had five players with two hits in the contest.
The second game against La Salle was all Fordham, as the Rams dominated in an 8-0 win that only took six innings.
Fordham also flashed some power in the second game, racking up nine extra base hits, including two triples and two home runs. Senior Chelsea Palumbo had one of each. Sophomore Kayla Lombardo had the other home run, her third of the year.
Sophomore Michelle Daubman continued Fordham’s successful pitching, giving up only three hits in a shutout performance in the circle, while also going 3-4 with two doubles and two RBI at the plate.
“Both [Daubman and LaBovick] are great pitchers,” Orchard said. “On any given day either of them can shut a team out; it’s just a matter of us playing behind them well. Being at home has been great. It has helped them out a ton as well.”
The Rams looked to continue winning at home when George Washington visited the Bronx. Fordham did just that, sweeping its second consecutive double header, this time beating the Colonials 8-3 and 3-0 in the two games.
LaBovick made history in the doubleheader, as she broke Nicole Callahan’s school record hitting streak of 17 games. LaBovick upped her own streak to 18 straight games with a hit in the second game against George Washington, when she singled up the middle in the third inning.
The first game saw juniors Gabby Luety and Elise Fortier lead the charge, coupling five hits and six RBI between the two of them. Fortier had two home runs, bringing her total to 11 long balls on the year while Luety also had a home run, her ninth of the season.
George Washington tied the game at three in the top of the sixth inning, but Fordham’s offense blew the game open in the bottom half of the frame. The Rams had five runs on five hits in the inning, including one of Fortier’s home runs, this one a three-run shot that put the game out of reach.
The second game was a defensive showcase for Fordham. Daubman pitched her second straight shutout, this time giving up only four hits and one walk to the Colonials.
Offense came late in this one for the Rams. It took until the fifth inning for Fordham to break the scoreless tie. It did so on a two-run home run from Luety, her second home run of the doubleheader and tenth on the year. That gave Fordham a 2-0 lead.
Daubman held strong in the top of the sixth, and Fordham managed to tack on an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Lombardo doubled to open the frame and then sophomore Paige Ortiz hit a clutch two-out single to bring her home and increase the Rams’ lead to 3-0, where the game would end.
The two wins brought Fordham’s overall record to 20-11, 4-2 in the A-10.
LaBovick and Daubman were named A-10 player of the week and pitcher of the week, respectively, after a dominating four games from the two.
Fordham will face defending A-10 champions UMass on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6 in Amherst. It may still be early in the conference schedule, but Fordham understands the significance of this series.
“Obviously, them being defending champions and winning for so many years, there is a sort of rivalry,” Orchard said. “We get up for that game. It’s a game we look forward to.”
Fred Ovine • Apr 4, 2013 at 9:09 am
certainly the punishment run in 30-ish temperatures and drizzle at 7:30 AM after the Charlotte loss must have inspired the team to not embarrass the coach again.