The Massachusetts softball team lost its final game in its three-game series against Fordham. The Minutewomen (10-20, 3-5 Atlantic 10) scored one unearned run in the Sunday matinee, while the Rams (15-14, 7-4 A-10) scored six runs, all of them earned.
Four of the six runs that UMass allowed came from home runs, something that has plagued its pitching staff all series. In its three games against Fordham, the Rams hit three, four and two home runs respectively. The two home runs on Sunday came in the top of the third and fourth innings.
“Jenna [Bradley] did a good job hitting her locations, [she] competed,” head coach Danielle Henderson said. “Defensively, we didn’t make any errors, and we were able to get some good outs from that.”
After committing seven errors over the previous two games, the Minutewomen had a clean report on Sunday. The sun’s emergence in the later innings made it difficult for outfielders to track the ball in the air, which led to balls that should have been outs dropping for hits.
In the top of the seventh, Fordham’s Brianna Pinto hit a lazy fly ball to left field, and outfielder Giana Wameling was unable to track the ball. This resulted in a stand-up double for Pinto, and after two sacrifice flies, she came across to score the Rams’ sixth and final run of the game.
UMass had 11 baserunners to Fordham’s 12. The Minutewomen left 10 people on base, with their one run coming in the top of the first off a throwing error from Rams pitcher Devon Miller.
“We could get a little better at scoring the runners,” Henderson said. “We just have to be hitting when people are on.”
After totaling eight hits over the previous two games in the series, UMass had seven in Sunday’s contest. Three of these seven hits came with the bases empty, and the other four hits came with a runner on first base. The Minutewomen had no extra base hits.
UMass made consistent contact, striking out five times on the day. Much of the contact that it made was weak, with its hits being bloopers into the shallow outfield grass or slap-hit singles.
“We got people on, we attacked their pitcher,” Henderson said. “We had better energy than [we did on Saturday].”
Fordham finished the day with 10 hits, spread throughout the innings. The Rams had no more than three hits in an inning, and unlike Saturday’s two games where Fordham’s batters attacked early and often, the Minutewomen held a 1-0 lead until the top of the third.
“I thought we played well today, we didn’t play well yesterday,” Henderson said. “We have to play well both days, it gives [us] more opportunities to win.”
Like Saturday, Miller was lights out for the Rams. After pitching a five-inning no-hitter in Saturday’s first game, she followed it up on Sunday by pitching a complete game and allowing no earned runs. She brought her walks down from four on Saturday to two on Sunday, despite pitching two more innings in Sunday’s game.
UMass continues its losing streak in A-10 play, having lost its last four conference games. The Minutewomen will look to rebound on Wednesday, April 6 against an in-form Connecticut that’s won seven of its last nine. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. from Sortino field.
Johnny Depin can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @jdepin101.
