Fordham softball opened up its 2025 season with the Charleston Invitational in South Carolina, going 1-4 on the weekend as the offense struggled to gain a footing.
Starting off the weekend on a sour note, the Rams opened with a lopsided 12-0 loss against the Virginia Tech Hokies, and Fordham’s bats were silenced. In danger of beginning the season on the wrong side of a no-hitter, Fordham was held hitless through the first five innings before junior Neleh Nogay singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth. The Hokies, on the other hand, tallied 11 hits and, behind a six-run second inning and five-run sixth inning, cruised to victory.
The Rams’ offense got off to another slow start in the second game of the weekend, but this time, the bats woke up against the hosts, the College of Charleston Cougars. Through the first three innings, the game was scoreless, and Fordham was once again searching for their first hit. Then, in the fourth inning, after a hit by a pitch and an error put two baserunners on to start the inning, the Rams looked as if they were going to squander a golden opportunity when a pop-out and line-out followed. But senior Mallory McClellan helped out with a clutch two-out, two-Run Batted In (RBI) triple and scored on sophomore Mikayla Swan’s single, giving Fordham a 3-0 lead late in the contest.
They tacked on some insurance runs in the sixth with a Nogay RBI single and a wild pitch that drove in a run. Charleston scored two of their own in the sixth inning, but that was all as Fordham notched its first win of the season with a final score of 5-2. Junior Holly Beeman twirled an excellent performance on the mound, pitching all seven innings, striking out five and walking none while only allowing those two runs in the sixth to start her 2025 campaign 1-0.
A pitcher’s duel awaited in game three as the Rams were walked off by North Dakota State University in a 2-1 loss. The Bison scored first with one run in the second before Fordham tied it up in the fourth with an RBI single from sophomore Erin Hoppe. That was all the scoring until the walk-off double in the seventh. Freshman Elizabeth Gaisior made her collegiate debut in this one, and took the loss despite only giving up those two runs.
In the fourth game of the weekend, the Rams put up nine hits but only managed to push across one run in a 4-1 loss to host Charleston. It was a string of missed opportunities for Fordham in this one as they left nine on base, including six in scoring position. Charleston got off to a quick 1-0 lead in the first and made it 3-0 by the second inning. The Rams wasted a pair of two-out rallies, coming away empty through the first two innings. The Cougars tacked on a fourth run in the fourth inning to extend the lead. Fordham pushed a lone run across in the sixth inning thanks to freshman Sophie Nesturrick’s RBI single to right field.
The Rams wrapped up the weekend in Charleston with another 2-1 loss to North Dakota State. The Bison got off to a quick 2-0 start in this one after scoring two runs in the first inning. After that, Fordham’s Beeman locked in and threw six consecutive scoreless innings for her second start of the season. But that wouldn’t be enough; although the Rams matched North Dakota State’s hit total with nine, they once again struggled to find the big hit they needed, leaving six on base. Fordham’s only score came in the fifth on a McClellan RBI single.
The theme of the weekend for the Rams was an inability to score runs, which makes it hard to win any game. They scored only eight runs in the five games, with five of them coming in their only win over Charleston.
The Rams will look to right the ship starting Friday, Feb. 14 in the five-game Bobcat Tournament hosted in San Marcos, Texas. They will face Stephen F. Austin University to start the weekend.
