This post was written by David Murphy.  He was our shortstop and won our last two games on walkoff hits.  He was also a part of several championship Fordham intramural teams.  They even made a Geocities page about it.

Here's Dave:

The Rams Alumni softball team brought a successful finish to a dismal season last Monday night.  For the second time in as many games, the sons and daughters of Mother Fordham battled back in the final frames to finish the year on a victorious note with a 8-7 win over the vaunted Mizuno machine. 

“Regardless of the final win-loss record, I’m proud of this team,” manager Charlie O’Donnell said after the game.  “I don’t think we’ll ever be accused of having the most talent in the league, but there’s no question that, as a team, we have the heart of a champion.”

Fordham struggled throughout the season with spotty defense and a lack of timely hitting.  It wasn’t until the final stages of the season that Fordham seemed to find their groove.  All told Fordham went 5-8 missing a playoff birth by a significant margin.  Even still, O’Donnell saw seedlings of hope develop in the expansion franchise.

“When we came into the season we didn’t know what to expect,” O’Donnell said.  “There was a big learning curve with this club but I think we definitely came into our own.  You could see that, on both sides of the ball, we definitely began to gel as a unit throughout the last few games.”

Both of the final two contests in 2005 proved dramatic for the Rams.  After a thrilling walk-off home run victory in the previous game, Fordham showed no sign of a let down in the last game of the season.  Fordham went up by three going into the last inning when the same shoddy defense that had haunted them all season began to rear its ugly head.  Pitcher Patty Dickerson, the indisputable team co-MVP after logging countless innings on the mound, saw misplay after misplay result in four unearned runs for Mizhuno. 

That led to one final chance for a comeback by the Jesuit educated bunch. In the bottom of the fifth, the always selective Ron Zapata led off with a single.  He moved into scoring position on a hit by Jason Gianitti.  Two batters later, Pawtucket’s own Ryan St. Germain singled in the tying run and moved the winning run into scoring position for shortstop Dave Murphy.  Murphy, also a Pawtucket native, doubled home the game winner with a line drive to right ending Fordham’s inaugural season on a high note.

“I just got the pitch I was looking for,” Murphy said after the game.  “We’ve battled back before, and the guys just did a great job of getting on base and I was fortunate enough to get a pitch I could handle.”  Murphy’s six hits in his final six at bats for Fordham this season were a big change from his hitherto lack luster performance.  Many Rams’ observers lay the blame of Fordham’s largely unsuccessful campaign squarely on his shoulders.  The captain of two Fordham University intramural softball championships with Team Shame, struggled mightily throughout 2005.  Many believed he simply could not adjust to playing without the teammates that surrounded him from 2000-2004 at Fordham, capturing those two titles. 

For Fordham, it was the best of times and it was the worst of times in 2005.  Although the team chemistry seemed to mix well, particularly by the end of the season, a series of people moving to go along with inconsistent play on both offense and defense resulted in a sub-par performance. 

Second baseman Trevor Freeman seemed to sum up the season best when packing up his locker in the Fordham clubhouse saying, “Maybe it’s because I’m an Oakland fan, but my mentality is, hey – wait till next year!”

And that is just what Fordham plans to do. 

I am mentoring a Fordham freshman and she just started a blog to keep track of her career development and organize her thoughts.  I think its a great experiment and I, for one, am very excited to see where this leads.  I'd appreciate if you could pop over and leave a word or two of encouragement or advice for Christina--either about blogging or about finding her niche in the business world in general.

Link: University identifies peer, aspirant institutions in Stragetic Plan - Fordham Observer - News.

"Intellectual hub":

-Fordham will be a "hub" for intellectual exchange and discussion in the metropolitan area

hmm...   Sounds like blogging to me.

This is a really good article, and more proof that the newspaper of Fordham's Lincoln Center campus is eating the lunch of the University's oldest paper, the Ram, up at Rose Hill.  I think they clearly recognize that the future of the school hinges on what gets built at Fordham's Manhattan campus over the next 20 years, and given that, they're already establishing a platform to handle that shift in focus.  They've got a really clean looking, functional website and good articles.  The Ram, on the other hand, isn't even available on line.  (If they are, I can't find it.... what year is this??)

I like that the University is being so transparent about its goals, even identifying the schools it wants to be like....  very college 2.0.  However, the one thing they could use a little work on is the peer production aspect of College 2.0.  They need to find ways to get wider participation of the alumni and create an outward message that is promoted by more of the students.  Ideally, I'd love to see a school blog with posts from the University President all the way down to a freshman on his first day... athletes, coaches, etc.   A blogging alum can dream...

By the way, I was flipping through the channels last night and caught a few minutes of the Lakers game...   they had a nice interview with Laker fan and Fordham Grad Denzel Washington, who was excited about the emergence of Fordham's own Smush Parker, who is playing for LA.  Go FU!

On Thursday, we had an open softball practice for our Fordham team and conveniently enough, it was the 3rd Thursday of the month, so we followed it up with a Young Alumni Happy Hour as well.  (If you haven't been to one yet, its a lot of fun.  Make sure you go to the Fordham website to update your contact info if you haven't already done so to get on the mailing list.  We're working on an RSS feed for event news, but that's down the line.)   We practiced with some people from the GM team and played an exhibition team.  The all-Fordham team won 9-6 versus a mix of GM and Fordham players.  Kevin and Larry both went yard.  Antoinette grounded out, which is major progress! There are lots more pictures online at my Flickr site.  Here are pics from Third Thursday and here is the growing collection of Fordham Softball '05 pics.  If you're using Flickr and you have softball or Third Thursday pictures, tag them "FUSoftball05" and "ThirdThursday" respectively. 

Losing 17-11 to the STV Scrappers wasn't exactly the way the Fordham Young Alumni softball team wanted to open their season, but the guys and gals in maroon made enough of a showing to give fans something to look forward to this season.

Crafty pitching from Brian "Strikes" Cuthbert (FCLC '01) and solid defense kept Fordham in the game through the first three frames.  Alexis "The Cannon" Kramer (FCRH '01) led the glovework, getting four of the team's first six outs in the field, including an unassisted double play in the second.  The outfield of Jason "Wheels" Giannitti (FCRH '02), Kevin "I'm not a small" Rodricks (FCRH '99, GSAS '04) and Larry "Young at Heart" Porco (GSAS '80) turned in some key plays to keep things close.  STV lead after three 3-0.

David "I live on the same block as Charlie" Murphy (FCRH '04) finally put Fordham on the board with a bases loaded two run single, scoring Christine "Nickname to be named later" Schildknecht (CBA '99) and Giannitti.  Charlie "Its my blog, so I make the nicknames" O'Donnell (CBA '01) singled home another run to knot it at three. Kramer than followed with a laser over the left fielder for a two run homer that put Fordham ahead 5-3.

After STV got one back, Fordham tacked on even more runs in the next frame.   The team had eight consecutive hits in the fifth, plating six more runs.  Fordham's females set things up in the inning with Christine "Christine" Guerrero (FCRH '99), Sofia "Steamroller" Won (CBA '03), and Schildknecht all reaching base and scoring.  Jim "The Wright Stuff" Gallagher (CBA '99) drove in a run with his second hit and also scored a run.  Murphy, O'Donnell, and Cuthbert all took part in the barrage, each hitting run scoring singles. 

All the hitting seemed to wear down the Fordham team, though, as the wheels came off the train in the sixth and seventh.  Despite flashy glovework from Nicole "Full Coverage"* Horsford (FCRH '99) at first, the defense didn't keep up, leaving opportunities open for STV to climb back and take a sizable lead with some timely hitting.  When it was finally over, STV would score five in the six and a painful eight in the seventh--13 unanswered runs.  Still, Fordham left the field in good spirits, looking forward to its April 21st practice and next game on Friday the 29th. 

All Fordham alumni are welcome to join us at our practice and afterwards at our regular "Third Thursday" Happy Hour.  T. G. Whitney's on 53rd between 2nd and 3rd.  Practice first, drink after.  Players will be signing autographs at the bar.

* See, the "Full Coverage" nickname is funny only if you know that Nicole works for HIP, the health plan.  She works for a health plan and she plays a great first base.  Clever, no?

We have a blog going for my 5 year Fordham reunion.   (Yeah, yeah, the template looks suspiciously similar...   I've been busy and didn't have time to do a new template.)

People have been updating the class with stories about what they've been up to.  One guy wrote about what it was like to be the Fordham Mascot.  That was pretty good, but I think it might just been topped by the best wedding story I've ever heard...

Link: Fordham University Welcomes Class of 2009.

“You will be challenged and nurtured to overcome limitations that you wrongly think you have,” Father McShane told a standing room-only crowd in the Leonard Theatre at Fordham Preparatory School on the Rose Hill campus. “Never be satisfied with mediocrity—be hungry for knowledge and bothered by injustice.”

I'm fully intent on going to this...  who's in?

Link: Ram News.

Bronx, NY - (June 27, 2005) – The Fordham University men’s basketball Rams will open the 2005-06 season in paradise. The Paradise Jam, that is. Six Division I men’s basketball teams are gearing up for a trip to paradise at the sixth annual Paradise Jam Basketball Tournament hosted by the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas.

Sounds like they should just set up a blog and get alumni and students blogging on it.  I mean, why hire just one personto "invent" their own version of Fordham's identity versus just setting up a blog and letting the community broadcast its own message on what Fordham is to them in a very honest and sincere way.  It would be a lot cheaper, too.

Link: The New York Times Job Market: Marketing - New York, NY.

ADVANCEMENT COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST A rare and rewarding challenge: play a central role in the transformation of an excellent university into a world-class university. The right person for this job will be able to understand and communicate what makes Fordham University so special and-crucially-be able to make others understand as well. In this role you will liaise with marketing, communications and advancement leaders to incorporate our institutional identity into every aspect of our advancement communications across print and online media, from collateral for the Office of Development to copy for University publications. You'll be able to do so in the voice appropriate to the varied audiences addressed. Finally, you'll need to be able to manage internal client and vendor relations to ensure a finished product on time, within budget and on target. You should have significant, direct experience as a strategic writer in advancement communications in an academic, marketing or non-profit environment. And you should be as strong and creative a thinker

This was a game of destiny.  Fordham had been showing signs of greatness all year--for an inning here an inning there.  In their 15-10 loss last game, it felt like they were one or two plays from turning the tables.  It felt like this was a team ready to put it all together.

So, when Dave Murphy told Charlie O'Donnell, "I'm going to hit today," the manager should have realized it meant a lot more.  Murphy's season had been an up and down one, and while he's always put the bat on the ball, the lack of output in the boxscores had sunk him to lower depths of the lineup.  Still, his intensity and enthusiasm had been unmatched, it was only a matter of time before he'd have a day like this one--going three for three with a game ending solo shot in the bottom of the final frame. 

In fact, Murphy was playing so well, that the Fordham manager turned to his firstbaseman Cuthbert and said, "Wouldn't it be great if Dave just f*#%ing ended it right here?"  One pitch later, the game was over.  In addition, he turned in a perfect 6-3 double play with men on 2nd and 3rd in the top of the final inning to preserve the tie to go with a leaping catch of a soft liner earlier in the game.

Fordham did much of their damage with two outs.  O'Donnell singled in the first and advanced to third on Jason Giannitti single.  When Giannitti tried to advance on the throw to third, O'Donnell took off for home, plating Fordham's first run and cutting Mizuho's lead in half.  Firstbaseman Brian Cuthbert knotted it up with another single which scored Gianitti.

Once again, Patty Dickerson turned in a solid effort on the mound, shutting down Mizuho for the final three innings for the team's 3rd win.  The defense played solidly as well, with Larry Porco catching a couple of long drives in the outfield in front of the capacity crowd of three.

The team plays its final game on August 8th at North Meadow.  Spectators are always welcome.

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Cool...  Lara was one of the friendliest faces on campus and is going to make a great contribution to the team. 

Link: Ram News.

Just two weeks ago, Fordham played a perfect defensive game on the field. 

On Wednesday night, they gave up 15 runs to a team that hit the ball out of the infield just a handful of  times, dropping their record to 2-5.  Clearly, this went awry in the field.  After the game, Fordham fired fielding coach Bill Buckner.

"I taught them everything I knew, and apparently it just wasn't good enough," Buckner told the press.

The bad fielding crushed an otherwise solid effort on the mound by Patty Dickerson, who proved to be quite durable, throwing 243 pitches in the losing effort. 

The team may have been feeling a bit pressured to turn in highlight film plays in the field, because the offence has been non existent.  The team has only averaged 4.57 runs a game, second worst in their division. 

Still, you have to give the team credit for having heart.  After the game, most of the players stayed for an extra 45 minutes of practice, in addition to the extra inning they played after the mercy rule kicked in. 

Also hurting the team were the departures of Alexis Kramer to Chicago and Kevin Rodricks to Boston.  Both players were traded for future considerations in cost cutting moves forced by the movement of University funding to scholarship students. 

"Apparently, academics, and not alumni softball, is the priority for this school," commented Manager Charlie O'Donnell after the game.  "You have to wonder whether or not the University is really thinking about the future if they're going to have these kinds of lopsided priorities."

Rainout, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Doesn't look good...gametime in 20 minutes.

A couple of months ago, my mom told me of a student asking for my help.  She had made Fordham, but her boyfriend, who she said was a very good student, was waitlisted.  Knowing that I, if nothing else, knew a lot of people to talk to at Fordham, mom passed this girl on to me. I know that this years admissions numbers were through the roof in both quantity and quality, so it had to be tough to get off that list.  It didn't seem like the numbers would be in this student's favor, which is a shame, because its just a very difficult process altogether.  The admissions group does a great job with selection, but its also a tough job, because you're dealing with the emotions and expectations of literally thousands of candidates.  Its so hard to select one versus another and its, of course, not a perfect process.

The one thing that I told him was that, like in any other situation, like hiring, for example, its probably better when someone has a personal experience with you, and that he should make himself known to the right person.  The Admissions Office can't possibily interview 15,000 people, but it would be great if someone at the University was able to talk to him.  Showing up at Admissions and begging isn't quite what I had in mind, but I'm sure that's probably what a lot of people do.  I don't envy the people that have to answer all of these really sincere and heartwrenching phonecalls from students and parents alike.

I asked what this student's major was and it turns out that he wanted to do journalism.  Fordham has a great communications program and so I went straight to the top.  I contacted Dr. Paul Levinson, the Chair of the department, and basically asked if he would be willing to take a meeting with the student.  I said that if it turns out this student is really good, he could pass on a positive message to Admissions if he sees fit, and if not, no harm done and perhaps if nothing else this student would get some words of wisdom from an experienced professor. 

Well, not only did Dr. Levinson meet with this student, but he asked the student for writing samples.   I still didn't think there was much of a shot for this kid, though, just because of the numbers,  until I got this e-mail today.  It was actually the first time I had direct contact with the student...

Dear Mr. O'Donnell,

Although we have been in correspondance for quite some time now in one form or another we have never actually directly spoken. As I'm sure you know by now, my name is ..., and I'm writing to tell you how sincerely grateful I am for everything you did for me during the college acceptance process. Please don't think me rude for taking so long to respond, but I've been very overwhelmed as of late. One of the positive things that I got out of this whole application experience, is a genuine sense of gratefulness for my acceptance to Fordham. Unlike some others to whom admission came easy, I will not take one day of my career at Fordham for granted. I am thoroughly looking forward to the fall, and beam with pride whenever I get to tell someone about my college plans. Once again thank you so much for arranging my meeting with Dr. Levinson, who was invaluable to my quest for Fordham admission. At some point I hope I am able to thank you in person, but until that day you have my deepest gratitude.

Sincerely,

...

Fordham University Class of 2009

I forwarded this to Dr. Levinson, who responded:

Truly my pleasure.  Fordham is a winner in the humanity it allows
into such tough processes like college acceptances.

All best wishes,
Paul

Link: WFUV: Let’s Get Digital Panel - The Digital Music Weblog - digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com _.

This should be really interesting.... and I'm not just promoting it because its a Fordham related event:

"If the new world of mp3 blogs, mash-ups, downloads and ringtones boggles your mind, tune in to Let’s Get Digital on Thursday, May 19 at 9:00 PM, as host Jen Guerra takes a musical look at all things online. The New Yorker Pop Music Critic Sasha Frere-Jones, CDBaby.com Founder Derek Sivers, Berklee School of Music Vice President David Kusek, Creative Commons Executive Director Glenn Otis Brown and others join Guerra for an hour-long program examining how the race to get online affects not only musicians, but music fans and the music business in general.”

Go to WFUV's website for more info and the webcast.

After three games, Fordham Young Alumni Softball is still looking for its first win. While the team has looked solid, the guys and gals in maroon always seem to be inches away from a clutch hit or a run saving catch.  Call to the stand yesterday's 8-4 loss to Partsearch...

Just a few plays would have made the difference, but none of them went Fordham's way.  Fordham loaded the bases with two outs in the third, only to have the pitcher just barely get a glove on Christine Schildknecht's smash up the middle.  In the field, Larry Porco came within a step of a terrific Web Gem in the field, getting on his horse from center over to right and diving for a fly ball.  He tumbled on the catch and just barely lost his hold on it, which would have ended the inning, but was a great effort nonetheless. 

Christine also made a few nice grabs in the field, gloving two hot shots to second in the fifth.  In fact, the game featured several new faces at new positions.  Dave Murphy started at third, and manager Charlie O'Donnell subbed in for the under-the-weather Alexis Kramer.  O'Donnell's shortstop debut turned out to be a mixed bag--solid at first, but two misqueues late in the came cost Fordham two runs.  "I'm looking forward to getting back to the outfield where I can roam free like an antelope," he commented after the game. 

Patti Dickerson played her second game at firstbase, turning in another game of solid play.  Other highlights included Antoinette Mirsberger's first hit of the season, a seeing eye infield single.  Her personal hitting coach, Trevor Freeman, is proud of the great strides she's making.  "She told me before the season that if she didn't learn to hit, she'd dump me, so I've been working extra hard to make sure she learns the ropes," Freeman told the press in an interview. 

Brian Cuthbert went the distance on the mound in the loss for Fordham.  He'll return to the mound for Fordham's next game, on May 19th.... same time (6:30) same field (Heckscher #1).  More pictures from the game can be found here.

Wooooooooo!    Congrats to Harsh Acharya, John Bitzer, Anita Erzetic, Michael Odell!

Link: New York Society of Security Analysts | NYSSA Announces Challenge Winners.

New York (April 27, 2005) – With a ‘buy’ recommendation, the team from Fordham Business School won the Third Annual NYSSA Investment Research Challenge, held on April 21st at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Randy Johnson and the exploding bird.

The pine tar incident.

The All Star Game tie.

Add Fordham's Friday night game against The Deal to your list of wacky incidents.  A scheduling error by the league left Fordham opponentless for 45 minutes until The Deal finally started showing up around 6:15--early as far as they knew.  Both teams scurried to start as time on the field permit ticked away, but in the end, since the game didn't go the full time, the league decided to suspend the game with Fordham up 7-5 after five, to be continued later in the season.

Fordham bats were quiet but effective during the game, with several "seeing eye" hits doing some major damage against The Deal.  Patti "Hit it where they ain't" Dickerson drove in four runs on two clutch floaters  just over the infield.  The game of inches also came back to hurt Fordham as well.  Pat "The Mighty" Quinn just missed a great stab at a liner over third and Larry Porco attempted a diving stop of a smash to first.  Both plays would have shut the door before The Deal put three on the board in the third, but as it was, luck wasn't much of a lady to either team on Central Park's Great Lawn that night.

Fordham sent Charlie O'Donnell to the mound in place of their absent ace Brian Cuthbert.  O'Donnell frustrated The Deal with his unwillingness/inability to keep the ball around the plate, causing some ugly and desperate swings.  He also walked three, but never game The Deal much of anything to hit.  He slipped several called strikes past the surprised Deal hitters, and while it might of been ugly, it kept Fordham in the game.

No word yet on when the remaining two innings will be played, but Fordham will look for their first win this week at Heckscher #1 this Thursday night at 6:45 in Central Park.

Tomorrow, at 6:15PM, the Fordham Young Alumni softball team plays its inaugural game at City College.  Spectators are encouraged!! 

Here's how to get to the field...

_________________________________________________________________

This post is an experiment of sorts--to see the network effect of the blogosphere in action to help get my mentee an internship.

I have been mentoring a bright young Fordham freshman for a few months now and she's trying to get an internship over the summer.  I have posted her resume below, and would like to say a few words about her.  Hopefully, someone who reads this blog will be interested in hiring a highly motivated young woman for a summer position where she can learn a lot and also contribute to real projects in a meaningful way.

I was impressed with Christina Maresca's enthusiasm right away.  She has been very engaged in our mentoring relationship and works very hard at school.  She is currently attending Fordham at the Marymount campus in Tarrytown, but will be transferring to the College of Business Administration at Rose Hill at the end of the semester.  She is a scholarship student and she is already involving herself on campus in leadership roles--becoming the Treasurer of the Italian club immediately after starting school.  She works two jobs while attending school--at the Gap and at the school's health center.

She has an interest in business, but one of the things we've discussed is that she needs some experience to help her explore her options.  I believe that she could make a great contribution to any firm she joins this summer and hopefully someone will take the same chance on her that GM took on me when I first started interning around the same age. 

If you contact Christina, please also leave a comment on this post.  It will be interesting to see how much interest this blog is able to generate and whether or not this new medium can help her out. 

And no, she does not have a blog of her own... yet.  However, I think if she gets something over the summer from this blog, it will go a long way to convincing her how blogging can help even a student's career and perhaps that will motivate her to blog her summer internship.  Keep that in mind.  If she gets her internship from a blog, and blogs her experience, it might make for an interesting story and good publicity for your company.