By Pat Costello
Madison Shaw hit four home runs in three games this weekend, earning A-10 Player of the Week honors. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)
The softball team’s offense came to play this past weekend against Rhode Island. In three away games, the Rams scored a combined 37 runs to the URI nine. Junior Pitcher Lauren Quense picked up three wins, pushing her record to 15-7 on the year, but it was the Rams’ bats that were the real story.
In the first game of the weekend, the scoring started early for both sides, but it was the Rams who were able to maintain it for the entirety of the game. They scored one in the first, which was matched by URI, two in the second, three in the fourth and ended the game with a six spot in the ninth. Sophomore infielder Madison Shaw was responsible for the go-ahead run in the second inning, a solo bomb to right centerfield. Junior outfielder Sydney Canessa went 2-2 on the day with four RBI, with two of the RBIs coming from sacrifice flies. Canessa tied graduate pitcher Rachel Gillen’s mark of two sacrifice flies in a game, a record she set almost exactly a year ago. Junior infielder Amy Van Hoven matched Canessa’s RBI number, adding four of her own on three hits.
Quense went four strong innings, giving up one earned run on three hits, before turning it over to junior Lindsay Mayer, who finished the game in five. The 12-1 victory foreshadowed how the rest of the weekend would go for the Rams and for Rhode Island.
Game two continued the high-powered offensive output by Fordham. The Rams put up one run in each of the first three innings, one of which was another home run from Shaw. Before that happened, freshman infielder Jessica Hughes swiped her 29th bag of the season, tying the single-season record while also vaulting over Van Hoven for either all-time. Later in the fifth, she became the first Ram to steal 30 bases in one season. On the following pitch Canessa pulled a home run to left field, her ninth of the year, which pushed the Rams lead to nine. The Rams added four more runs in the sixth to cap their scoring.
Quense threw four innings again, giving up one run on one hit while striking out two. Mayer entered in the fifth and gave up three runs, but was able to settle down and get out of the next two innings, securing the 13-4 win.
The final game of the series had a similar storyline as the first two. The Rams put up 12 in the game to give themselves a third straight victory in which they scored 12 or more runs. They only failed to score in the fifth inning, but they already held an 8-4 lead. Shaw added two more home runs, her third and fourth of the weekend, which gave her five RBI’s on the day. Her productivity over the weekend was rewarded, as she was honored with A-10 Player of the Week. Van Hoven hit a homerun of her own, a moon shot to right field. The result was never in doubt, and the Rams pulled out the 12-4 victory with relative ease. The win gave Quense her 15th of the season and her third of the weekend.
The Rams have put together an incredible stretch of softball over the past couple of weeks. Their offense is hitting better now than it has all season. The goal of the season is to build up to the point where you will peak during the playoffs. Some may worry that the Rams have peaked too early this year. Coach Bridget Orchard, who picked up her 14th straight 30 win season this weekend, does not believe that they are. “We are just trying to take one game at a time,” she said. “We are playing well, but I think we still have more in us and can play better so I don’t think we have peaked yet.”
The Rams continue their road schedule this weekend with a three game set against Dayton, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday.
