Coming off a week where Fordham Softball was shut out in each of their last two games, all eyes were on the offense as the squad readied up for the week, bringing forth five conference games. The bats did not disappoint, leading the Rams to win four of five games and climb to second in the Atlantic 10.
The spotlight naturally gravitated towards a Wednesday doubleheader against Saint Joseph’s University. Entering play with a 12-3 conference record that placed them atop the A-10, the Hawks posed as another formidable test for a Fordham squad coming off a gritty series loss against the University of Dayton.
The Rams immediately quelled their recent offensive woes, putting up a four-spot in the opening frame of game one as all nine batters saw an at-bat in the inning. St. Joe’s cut the deficit to one by the fifth inning, but Fordham responded immediately, retaking a four-run lead as graduate student Gianna Sarlo stole home.
Graduate student ace Devon Miller added another complete game to the ledger, allowing three runs and striking out six as part of Fordham’s 7-3 winning effort. Senior Bailey Enoch and sophomore Neleh Nogay set the tone at the top of the lineup, posting identical three-hit, two-run lines.
In game two, St. Joe’s flipped the script, taking a 4-0 lead in the first against sophomore Holly Beeman. Three of the four runs were unearned as the Hawks took advantage of back-to-back errors at third base from Sarlo to open the frame.
The Rams did not go down quietly. Junior Sydney Wells slammed a three-run bomb in the third, her A-10 leading 11th of the year. An inning later, senior Bella Ayala added a solo jack to even the score at four.
The Hawks retook the lead with a run in the fifth, but Fordham enjoyed the last laugh. Nogay led off the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff single and subsequently stole second base, setting up Wells for her fourth RBI of the day as she belted a double to tie the game at five. Several batters later, graduate student Michaela Carter lined a sac fly into left, scoring junior Mallory McClellan for a 6-5 walk-off victory and a Wednesday sweep.
Beeman responded well after a tough first inning, going all seven innings while allowing just two earned runs. Meanwhile, Nogay managed to one-up her game-one performance, going 4-4 and scoring a pair of runs.
The Rams tried to avoid whiplash as they went from playing the A-10 leaders to the A-10 bottom feeders, traveling to Olean, N.Y., to take on the 2-28 Saint Bonaventure University Bonnies. With the worst offense and pitching staff in the conference, everything pointed toward another Rams series win. That’s precisely what happened, as Fordham took two out of three, adding an exclamation point with a dominant Sunday rubber match win.
Fordham took the series opener 8-6 on the backs of a three-hit game from Enoch and three RBIs from sophomore Nicki Sudall. Freshman Olivia Simcoe earned the second win of her collegiate career, allowing zero earned runs and recording the final 14 outs of the ballgame.
The Rams dropped the back half of the doubleheader despite out-hitting the Bonnies 13-5. Beeman allowed her first two earned runs of the game in the fifth inning, giving the Bonnies a 4-3 lead which they didn’t relinquish. Those two earned runs were the only ones that Beeman surrendered, charged with an unfortunate loss despite her six-inning complete game. Enoch and Nogay both tallied three hits apiece, but the Fordham offense could not muster a run after the second inning.
After giving the Bonnies just their second conference win of the season, the Rams entered Sunday’s rubber match with an all-business mindset. They left no doubt, posting season-highs with 17 runs and 16 hits in just five innings as Fordham ran away with a 17-1 run-rule victory.
Simcoe threw the first complete game of her young career, going the full five innings with one run and three hits allowed, but the story of the game was Fordham’s offensive onslaught. Every starter in the lineup recorded a hit, with five enjoying multi-hit games. Sudall led the way with four RBIs, but arguably most impressive was that Fordham provided all this damage without a single home run, and Fordham’s top bat, Wells, was not in the lineup.
Enoch and Nogay stood above the rest in a week filled with high-powered offensive production. Enoch batted .647 across the five games this week, recording four multi-hit games and scoring seven runs, raising her average to a team-high .347. Nogay hit .579 over the course of the week, also adding seven runs of her own. It was a slow start for the sophomore, whose average sat as low as .180 on March 20, but she’s erased all doubts with a phenomenal run since the start of conference play. Her .457 batting average and 15 stolen bases in A-10 play are both first on the team, and has made the top of Fordham’s lineup an absolute gauntlet for any opponent. Sudall also deserves some love with a team-high nine RBI in three games against St. Bonaventure, raising her average to an excellent .338 on the year.
With wins in four of their last five, Fordham is above .500 on the season with a 23-22-1 record. More importantly, their 13-7 conference record slots them in at second place in the A-10, tied with Saint Louis University. It’s the highest the Rams have sat in the standings since the beginning of conference play.
Fordham will play Saint Louis next weekend with a prime chance to take sole possession of second place. Believe it or not, just seven games remain before the A-10 Softball Championship, which Fordham will host starting on May 8. Six of those seven games come against conference opponents. The Rams are in prime position not just to qualify for the tournament but to enter with a top seed. With just two weeks left, Fordham enjoys the privilege of holding their fate in their own hands.
