By MATT ROSENFELD

SPORTS EDITOR

For the past few years, the Fordham softball team has been one of the few bright spots in what has been a very bleak sports scene here at Rose Hill. In 2011, they won the Atlantic 10 and earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament. Last year, right here at Bahoshy Field, they defeated the third-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. This year, head coach Bridget Orchard and her team are looking to continue the success their program has become synonymous with, but it will not be easy.

The journey to another successful year will be quite different than the ones in the recent past for Fordham. The departure of leaders and proven talents Lindsey Kay Bright, Nicole Callahan and Jen Mineau has changed the look and style of the team in a big way. Mineau, who started 40 of the team’s 58 contests last year, will be replaced by a stable of pitchers, ranging from freshman Patti Maloney to senior Jamie Labovick.

“Right now we have four different pitchers to go with,” Orchard said. “We’ve reactivated LaBovick, she’s been a pleasant surprise so far. She gets us balls put in play. We just have to play defense behind her, which is definitely different from the past and having nine or 10 strikeouts in a game.”

Sophomores Taylor Pirone and Michelle Daubman also will see time on the mound this year. Pirone and Daubman are the only two Rams that saw the mound last year besides Mineau, pitching 71.2 and 49.2 innings, respectively. LaBovick spent last year playing first base, where she will still spend time this year.

“It’s definitely different,” senior Chelsea Palumbo said about her team’s pitching situation. “Instead of having one power pitcher, we have a bunch of talent throughout four pitchers. We’re excited about that.”

Despite the hole to fill on the mound, in their two tournaments in Florida, pitching has hardly been the problem. It is the bats that will need to be figured out for the Rams as they move on in the season. In their five losses in the NFCA Leadoff Classic over the last weekend in February, the Rams were shut out three times.  Looking to step up for Fordham this year is a senior class that includes outfielder and captain Jessica Crowley, Palumbo, who has made the switch from shortstop in 2012 to outfield this year, and Labovick. The three seniors will be looked upon to lead the team this year.

Another group that will be heavily counted on this year is the Rams’ junior class, which contains two players that could play a big role in determining which way this season goes. Catcher Gabby Luety, who had nine home runs and 23 RBI, and Elise Fortier, who has made the switch from third base to shortstop this year, will be major factors if Fordham is to have a successful year.

“Fortier is probably our key returner as far as leadership,” Orchard said. “All eyes will be on her. If she has a breakout season, we should be doing well.”

Fordham has already competed in three tournaments in Florida thus far. The Rams are off to a 6-9 start in the Sunshine State. Their first tournament, the Dot Richardson Collegiate Invitational, has been the Rams’ most successful this year. They picked up four wins and one loss, including a victory over ACC member Virginia Tech.

Since the Dot Richardson Collegiate Invitational, however, Fordham has struggled. In its 10 games since, the Rams are 2-8. Fordham is playing the best competition it will face all year in these early season tournaments, with games against power conference opponents like Mississippi State, Pittsburgh and Indiana.

“I think [these tournaments] really give us a gut check,” Orchard said. “We can gauge where we are at, where we are going to be and who can and can’t do what. We’re still trying to find out a lot about our team.”

The team has a lot to figure out about itself, and it gets a lot out of the games it plays against top notch opponent, even if the wins come few and far between.

“We might not win all of these games [in Florida] because we are playing harder competition,” Palumbo said of the early season tournaments. “But playing these games makes us better as a whole. We want to start playing up to the better teams. We may not win a lot of them, but they definitely get us better for conference play.”

The one bright spot in its last two tournaments came in its last game of the ESPN Citrus Class in Orlando this past Sunday, when the Rams upset the fifth ranked Texas Longhorns. In a day that was a perfect example of what the team can be, Fordham hit four home runs, two of which came from Luety. Daubman and Palumbo each had a homerun of their own. Fortier also chipped in with three RBI.

Last season, Fordham qualified for the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament, in which the top six teams in the regular season get a berth, but, after a win against St. Joseph’s, the Rams dropped its next two against eventual A-10 champion UMass. They were then eliminated after George Washington defeated them.

This year, the Rams look to get back to the top of the A-10, which Fordham won in 2011, but that is still a far way off.

“Our goal right now is to just get better every single day,” Orchard said. “By the time we get to those [Atlantic 10] games, we are playing our best.”

Fordham will next compete in the USF Tournament in Tampa, Fla. from March 8 through March 10.