By Anthony Pucik
The Fordham softball team improved its record to 8-5 on the season two weekends ago down in Greenville, South Carolina at the Paladin Classic. The team swept a double header with the Furman University Paladins on Feb. 20, winning the first game 3-2 in eight innings and taking the second 8-1. The following day, the Rams fell to the Gardner-Webb University Runnin’ Bulldogs 7-5. The team then traveled down to Orlando, Florida this past weekend to take part in the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic II.
Fordham’s first game was against the University of Maryland Terrapins on Feb. 27. The Rams struck first in the top of the second when sophomore third baseman Lindsay Mayer scored on an error to make it 1-0. Maryland answered in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homerun by Erin Pronobis off Rams junior starter Rachel Gillen to tie the score. The Rams retook the lead in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by senior first baseman Michele Daubman to make it 2-1, but Maryland scored on an error in the bottom of the inning to send the game to extra innings.
The teams each exchanged runs in the eighth inning to make it 3-3, but Maryland walked off on a RBI sacrifice fly, taking the game 4-3. Gillen suffered the loss and fell to 4-2 on the season, while reliever Hannah Dewey picked up the win, improving to 8-4.
Fordham’s next game came against the Penn State University Nittany Lions. Fordham struck first in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Mayer, but that was all it would get. Penn State scored three runs in the second off Daubman and added three more in the last five innings to take the game 6-1. Daubman suffered the loss, falling to 2-3, and starter Marlania Laubach earned the win, going to 3-2.
The Rams’ next two games on Feb. 28 versus Georgetown University and eight ranked Georgia were cancelled, so they finished up the Classic on Sunday, March 1, against the thirteenth-ranked Minnesota University Golden Gophers. The Rams got off to a hot start, scoring nine runs in the first inning. It started with a two-RBI double by Daubman, followed by RBI singles by senior right fielder Cora Ianiro and senior catcher Kayla Lombardo. Fordham scored two more runs on RBI walks by Gillen and senior left fielder Brianna Turgeon and capped off the inning with a three-RBI triple by sophomore second baseman Amy Van Hoven.
The Gophers scored a run each in the second and third innings off Gillen to bring themselves within seven, but Fordham would tack on another run in the fifth inning on an RBI groundout by Gillen to go up 10-2. Minnesota added two runs in the bottom of the inning and one more in the sixth, but the relief efforts of Daubman and junior Patti Maloney shut down the ranked Golden Gophers, giving Fordham its only win in the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic, 10-5.
Gillen picked up her fifth victory of the season to improve to 5-2 while Minnesota’s Nikki Anderson suffered her first loss of the season, falling to 3-1. “Rachel as well as our entire pitching staff have done a great job,” head coach Bridget Orchard said. “Rachel has worked extremely hard to get to where she is after her injury a few years ago. I am very happy and proud of her.”
This is the Rams’ sixth-highest victory over a ranked team in program history, the last coming in 2013 against fifth ranked Texas. “It meant a lot to us beating Minnesota,” Orchard said. “We play an aggressive schedule for those opportunities and I was happy that we made the most of it and came away with a win.”
The Rams have this upcoming weekend off, but will travel down to Raleigh, North Carolina from March 13-15 to participate in the N.C. State Hyatt Place Invitational. Their first contest is against Missouri University on March 13 at 11:15 a.m., another ranked opponent.
Despite not looking forward to the week off, coach Orchard is looking forward to playing down in North Carolina. “We play a top 10 team in Missouri and they will make us work hard,” she said. “We have to mentally get up, show up and play our best to win.”
