Fordham Softball is certainly in an odd spot at the moment, as the team is stuck in a perpetual cycle of inconsistent, up-and-down performances. Take the fact that within the last few weeks, the Rams managed to knock off the 14th-ranked Wildcats of the University of Kentucky days after getting absolutely thrashed by a Sacred Heart University squad. In essence, this team is, at its core, two wholly separate teams: one capable of rolling everybody and one who can be rolled by anybody.
Thankfully, this past week presented Fordham with the opportunity to potentially exercise some of these demons and find a middle ground, the Rams competing in five separate contests as they both closed out their non-conference slate and dove headfirst into Atlantic 10 play.
Looking first at the conclusion to their non-conference slate, the Rams hosted the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson University for a two-game series at Rose Hill’s Bahoshy Field. The first of these two pivotal contests was a tight, low-scoring affair that would unfortunately not fall in the Rams’ favor, the Knights winning the game by a score of 3-1 following their three-run outburst in the sixth to break the game’s 0-0 deadlock. It was overall a frustrating game for the Rams, their offense being wholly impotent as only three Rams were able to reach base all game: senior Bailey Enoch did so twice off as many hits, junior Sydney Wells was able to record a run-scoring double and sophomore Neleh Nogay drew a singular walk. Outside of these three players, the Rams were totally blanked up and down the lineup, the rest of the team going a combined 0-17 with eight strikeouts at that plate. However, implicit to the aforementioned fact that this first game was a low-scoring contest is that the Rams did see one of their own put in a stellar pitching performance on the mound, graduate student Devon Miller managing to go all the way in the contest while striking out nine batters.
Luckily, the Rams were able to build off this bright spot that Miller provided in the second game of the series, Fordham getting their revenge against the Knights in a 10-0 victory. Just like the prior contests, the Rams once again saw their starter, sophomore Holly Beeman, go all the way on the mound while striking out five. However, the Rams’ offense clearly woke up, with Fordham’s lineup exploding to the tune of 10 runs. This outburst of scoring came early and often for the Rams, the team hanging seven runs on the Knights across the first three innings. This early onslaught all began in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer by sophomore Eva Kortasis and carried on from there, almost every batter somehow making a difference: both Enoch and Wells recorded doubles, sophomore Kate McGuire went a strong 2-3 on the day with one run scored, senior Bella Ayala went 2-2 with a walk and RBI triple and graduate student Gianna Sarlo crushed a three-run homer.
However, following this thrashing of FDU to split the series, the Rams would then be in the fray of conference play, every game’s importance magnified tenfold. Nevertheless, the Rams were given the ideal conditions to get off to a strong in-conference start, their opening A-10 series being a home series against a University of Rhode Island team that came limping into the greystone confines of Rose Hill with only two wins all year.
Fordham would take advantage of these ideal conditions in the first matchup of the three-game series, the Rams blanking URI for a 3-0 victory in the opener. Miller put in another amazing performance on the mound for Fordham in this game, again in only 82 pitches. Moreover, she also made hitter after hitter look lost at the plate, striking out a whopping eight on the day. In terms of the offensive support that she received, the Rams took advantage of situations with runners in scoring positions. Nevertheless, these few moments were enough, as Miller’s RBI single in the fourth, Nogay’s RBI single in the fifth and Koratsis’ sacrifice fly in the fifth effectively put Fordham over the top.
Unfortunately, the tides shifted in the next iteration of the series, as Fordham faltered and dropped the second game by a count of 4-3 following a three-run explosion in the fifth by URI. It was Beeman who was tapped by URI in this mini-offensive explosion, the sophomore having one of her roughest outings all year: a 4.1 inning showing where she was credited with having surrendered four earned runs off of eight hits. Because of this lackluster day from Beeman, Fordham’s approach at the plate simply could not save them this time around, as the Rams’ offensive inconsistency — not a single player in the lineup reached base multiple times in the contest — proved to be too much to overcome.
Finally, in the rubber match of the series, Fordham was thankfully able to take control once again, thrashing URI by a score of 6-0. It was once again Miller who led the charge from the mound, the Rams’ star pitcher recorded her second complete-game shutout of the series. In terms of offensive production, Fordham’s bats woke up and gave Miller more than enough run support, the entire lineup contributing in some way: Enoch would record a hit, a walk and a run scored, Nogay would notch two RBIs on the day, Wells would drive in three runners off of two hits, both graduate student Michaela Carter and Sarlo would have impressive 2-3 days from the plate and McGuire would finish the meeting 2-2 with a walk.
In terms of what is next for Fordham Softball, their upcoming schedule has them actually taking a quick break from their A-10 campaign in the form of a single-game home series against the Gales of Iona University. After that meeting, however, they will head right back into the thick of it, resuming A-10 play by heading to Amherst, Mass., to square off against the Minutemen of the University of Massachusetts in a two-game soiree. The Rams should be able to gain some momentum across these three games, as both Iona and UMass are characterized as struggling squads, the two teams having a combined eight wins as of now. However, the games are played on the field and not in the record columns, so the Rams will have to bring their A-game if they want to continue playing above .500.
