HARRISONBURG, Va. -- For the second time in program history, the Fordham softball team is moving on to a regional final, after the third-seeded Rams upset the top seeded and the NCAA Championship's #15 overall seed James Madison, 2-1, in an elimination game of the Harrisonburg Regional that started Saturday night but finished Sunday morning at Veterans Memorial Park.
With the victory, the Rams improve to 38-19 on the season and earn a rematch with second-seeded North Carolina State at 12 p.m. If Fordham wins, the two sides play another game 30 minutes after, but if the Rams lose, the Wolfpack win the regional.
The game was suspended because of rain in the top of the sixth inning at approximately 10:30 p.m. Saturday night with Fordham leading the Dukes, 2-0, in the top of the sixth. JMU, who was the away team despite playing on its own field, had a 0-1 count with two outs and a man on first when play stopped.
Coming back Sunday morning, senior Michelle Daubman, who started in the circle for the Rams, got the batter out to end the inning, after she quickly threw to first to barely get the runner when she took a rocket line drive off her glove.
Fordham went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, before things got interesting in the top of the seventh. With one out, Daubman yielded a single up the middle to Alyssa Buddle, before allowing another single to right by Morgan Tolle. On the play, senior
Cora Ianiro misplayed the ball, which allowed pinch runner Madyson Moran to advance to third. The base knock also knocked Daubman out of the game.
Junior
Patti Maloney relieved Daubman and traded JMU's first run for the second out on Tahil Moore's RBI sacrifice fly to right field. The lineup then turned over for the Dukes, and Maloney and leadoff batter Niki Prince would battle for eight pitches, with one of them nearly landing fair down the left field line, which would have tied the game. But Maloney buckled down and got Prince to ground out weakly to sophomore
Lindsay Mayer at third to clinch the victory.
Daubman (12-9) was fantastic in the circle, as she arguably put together one of the gutsiest performances of her career. She tossed 6.1 innings, scattered six hits, walked none and fanned two. She also worked out of a second and third one-out jam in the top of the second, before retiring the final three batters of the fourth when she allowed a lead-off triple. Maloney recorded her second save of the season.
The difference in the contest came with two outs in the bottom of the third when Mayer blasted a two-out two-run home run to center field, scoring sophomore
Amy Van Hoven.
The home run was Mayer's ninth of the season and third of the regional. Mayer finished 2-for-3 to record half of Fordham's four hits.
Megan Good (29-3), who entered the game with only two losses and a 1.02 ERA in the circle, took the loss despite going the distance. She allowed two earned runs on four hits, walked none and struck out seven. Jailyn Ford had three of JMU's six hits, including the triple in the fourth.
The loss ends the Dukes' season at 48-10. It is the first time head coach Mickey Dean has lost back-to-back games at JMU and the first time since April 21, 2012 that the Dukes have lost back-to-back home games.
