It has been a wild 2024 campaign so far for Fordham Softball. Their season has been everything but uneventful, the past few weeks especially having been a chaotic, up-and-down affair that saw them both defeat the 14th-ranked Wildcats of the University of Kentucky and also lose to a glut of more middling teams. Thus, this past week was pivotal for the Rams, each one of the many games that they had on their docket representing a chance to find some much needed consistency.
The first of these opportunities was the Rams’ home-opener, with Fordham squaring off against the Camels of Campbell University in what was their first game of the season amongst the greystone confines of Rose Hill. However, as exciting as this occasion was, the game concluded in a rather bizarre manner: a six-to-six stalemate that was called off early due to inclement weather. That is not to say that the game was wholly uneventful, as it was indeed a back-and-forth affair that had its fair share of crazy moments. For instance, not only did each team manage to blow fairly substantial leads, Campbell blowing their initial 4-1 lead and the Rams fumbling their own respective 6-4 lead, but all of Fordham’s offensive production actually came in a singular half-inning (the bottom of the fifth) on only five hits. This aside, the Rams did have a few consistent performers throughout the odd affair, as senior Bailey Enoch collected two hits, one of them a double, from her leadoff spot, junior Sydney Wells registered a trifecta of RBIs and graduate student Michaela Carter managed to draw a pair of walks.
After this wacky affair, the Rams would then head down south to the Palmetto State for the weekend, the team being slated to compete in the highly-competitive Tiger Invitational at Clemson University.
The Rams’ first encounter while there would be against the Lancers of Longwood University, a team that likewise found themselves somewhat limping into the tournament. Thus, seeing as both teams were looking for a desperately needed win to start their weekend off correctly, it should come as no surprise that the game was a tight, hard-fought affair. Unfortunately for Fordham, however, it was the Lancers that would prove victorious. Longwood won the matchup by a count of 3-2 on the back of a tie-breaking single in the top of the sixth by freshman Naleya Bridges and a stellar complete game, one-earned run pitching performance by sophomore Maggie Chapin. The Rams did have a few bright spots amidst this disappointment, however, as graduate student Devon Miller delivered a gem with her own respective complete game performance, allowing only two earned runs and 6 hits all day. In terms of offensive production, Enoch once again produced from the leadoff spot, this time recording both an RBI and a run scored, while Carter drew another pair of walks.
The Rams would then find a way to rally behind these bright spots, just hours later playing one of their strongest games of the year to down the Bears of Mercer University in a 3-1 comeback victory. Not only did sophomore Holly Beeman go all the way on the bump, but the Rams’ bats also came alive for nine hits on the afternoon. Sure, they only ended up plating three runs, but Fordham nevertheless had three players record multiple hit games (sophomore Neleh Nogay, the aforementioned Carter and senior Julia Petrovich), while Wells also blasted yet another home run: her then fifth of the season.
This momentum would not last forever, as the Rams would immediately find themselves back in the loss column in their next game, dropping a game against a familiar foe: the Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. In what was the third time this season that these two squads squared off, Minnesota once again got the best of Fordham, besting them by a count of 4-2 despite the Rams jumping out to a respectable 2-0 lead in the top of the second. The disappointing loss was largely the result of the Rams’ inability to find offensive production outside of the usual suspects, six of the team’s eight hits coming from only three players: Wells, Miller and senior Bella Ayala. Freshman pitcher Olivia Simcoe also had a shaky day on the mound, surrendering three runs across four innings on five hits.
Next, the Rams fourth and penultimate game of the weekend would once again pit them up against Longwood. However, this time around, the Rams walked away victorious, exacting their revenge with a 7-3 thrashing of the Lancers. As in their victory against Mercer, Fordham once again was able to place themselves in the win column behind an incredible all-around team effort, all nine Rams who recorded a plate appearance reaching base. Moreover, this major offensive production came in all forms, as both Wells and Enoch crushed homeruns; graduate student Gianna Sarlo slashed a pair of doubles; and sophomore Kate McGuire swiped a pair of bags. Additionally, Beeman, like she did in the victory against Mercer, pitched a stellar game, going a full seven innings on only 101 pitches.
Finally, to close out their stint in the south, the Rams then faced the hosts of the tournament: the 12th-ranked Tigers of Clemson University. Unfortunately for the Rams, they were unable to recreate the magic that allowed them to knock off the aforementioned 14th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats just a week prior, as Clemson would throttle the Rams by a count of 12-0. The scoring came often and in batches for the Tigers, the ladies in purple and orange plating two runs in the first, three in the third and five in the seventh off a trifecta of Rams pitchers: Simcoe, Beeman and Miller. It also did not help that the vast majority of the Rams’ lineup could not put metal to cork, the singular duo of Nogay and McGuire actually accounting for four of the team’s six hits.
In terms of what is next for these Rams, their upcoming slate has them diving head-first into conference play, as after a brief single-game affair with the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the Rams will open up their 2024 Atlantic 10 campaign with a home series against the 1-14 University of Rhode Island. Fordham could potentially set themselves up for a strong 2-0 in-conference start if they can take care of business against this struggling URI squad in free-fall, the Rams certainly being the more talented and consistent of the two squads.
