Published: April 3, 2008

With two doubleheaders in two consecutive days, the Fordham University softball team achieved two vastly different results—two wins and two losses.

Fordham opened its Atlantic 10 conference play at home on Bahousy Field with doubleheaders against the University of Massachusetts and the University of Rhode Island.

The first doubleheader featured two close games against Massachusetts in which pitching dominated and both games were decided by two runs or less.

In game one, Fordham was able to score early with two runs in the first inning with an RBI-single by outfielder Mary Beth Puccio, CBA ’09, to score pitcher Allison Twarowski, FCRH ’08. Puccio would later score on a single by infielder Erin Fisher, CBA ’10.

However, Massachusetts scored a run in the fifth and added three more runs in the seventh to win 4-2.

Game two against Massachusetts featured Beckah Wiggins, FCRH ’11, pitching 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run and striking out two hitters. Despite Wiggins’ pitching performance, Fordham was not able to put together any offense and lost by a score of 1-0.

“We came out strong in the first inning of the UMass game, but we weren’t able to get it done offensively in the rest of that game or the second one,” said infielder Jessica Weckenman, CBA ’09.

Despite a lack of offensive production against Massachusetts, Fordham was able to salvage the weekend doubleheaders with wins against Rhode Island.

In both games against Rhode Island, the pitching of Twarowski and Wiggins was supported offensively with 15 runs.

In game one, Twarowski pitched a one-hit, one-run game over five innings with two strikeouts.

“Against URI, we kept putting pressure on them and had key hits throughout the entire game which led to runs,” said outfielder Megan Waldron, CBA ’09.

After falling behind early 0-1 in the top of the first inning, Fordham answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. The Rams would later add runs in the second and fourth innings to win the game 9-1 in five innings, after which the game was called due to an eight-run mercy rule.

“Our pitching and hitting both were on fire that day, so we were able to shut them down on defense and score a lot of runs throughout the whole game,” Puccio said.

In game two, Wiggins continued the pitching dominance against Rhode Island by retiring the first 16 batters and pitching a no-hitter through six innings. She struck out five hitters while allowing two runs on three hits. Wiggins’ pitching garnered her a second Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week award.

“The hitting, defense and pitching all did really well, and it is definitely what helped us win the games and is going to continue to help us win more games in the future, if we can bring it all together every time,” Wiggins said.

Fordham’s record is now 14-17,  4-2 in conference play. If Fordham can rely on their pitching and defense while capitalizing on offensive opportunities, they will be a contender for one of the six spots in the Atlantic 10 tournament.