Box Score
BRONX, NY – Taking game one with a thrilling walk-off victory, 3-2 on Saturday afternoon, Fordham University softball split a pair of games with Saint Louis at Bahoshy Field.
In this, the penultimate weekend of the regular season, Fordham and Saint Louis remain tied in the conference standings at 14-8 through this afternoon’s games, with Saint Louis’ overall win percentage keeping them above the Rams for second in the A-10 standings .
Devon Miller he would pick up the victory in game one, behind a season-high 12 strikeouts, the second most in his collegiate career, while allowing just two earned runs and five hits on the day. Trailing 2-1 and down to their final strike late, Michael Carter would walk it off for the Rams with a two run single while the bases were loaded to take a 3-2 win at the bottom of the seventh.
Game two would see the Rams take a 2-0 lead through four innings, but a three-run homer in the fifth saw the Billkens pull ahead 3-2, before Fordham leveled the score at the bottom of the inning. Saint Louis would plate the go-ahead run late in the seventh, and would keep the Rams off the board in their final turn at the dish.
Miller would down five of the first nine batters she faced with a strikeout in game one, but the Billikens’ second turn through the order saw them score the first two runs of the afternoon to take the lead in the top of the third.
A pair of errors at the bottom of the frame however would allow the first two hitters to reach safely for the Rams, flipping the order with one away, before Nicki Sudall he drove in the first Fordham run of the afternoon with an RBI single to cut the deficit in half through three innings. Both sides would be held off the board from there, with the Rams heading into the bottom of the seventh trailing by a run.
Fordham would slowly but surely put runners on first and second with two away and down to their final out. A walk drawn by Eva Koratsis would load the bases and bring up Michael Carterwho would come through in the clutch, driving a two-run single to center field to bring in the tying and winning runs to take game one 3-2.
The Billikens would threaten early in game two, as they would eventually load the bases, but Holly Beeman would work out of trouble in the first without allowing a run. In their own first turn at the dish, the Fordham offense would break through with an RBI double from Enoch scoring Nogay from second to give his side the early lead.
Despite putting runners in scoring position in each of the next two frames, Beeman and the Rams’ defense would keep Saint Louis off the board through the first four innings, before tackling on a second run on a sac fly at the bottom of the fourth. A three home run at the top of the fifth would see the Billikens go up 3-2, but the Rams would add one back at the bottom of the frame to level the score at three.
A bloop single right in the center of the ballpark would allow the go-ahead run to score for Saint Louis at the top of the seventh, before closing things out at the bottom of the inning to level the series.
The Rams and Billikens will close the three game set tomorrow afternoon with the rubber game, Fordham’s 50th game of the season, at 12:00 pm from Bahoshy Field and broadcast live on ESPN+.
