AMHERST, Mass.— Third-seeded Fordham scored three runs in the fifth inning to pull away for a 5-1 victory over second-seeded Saint Louis in a winner’s bracket game in the 2015 Atlantic 10 Softball Championship at Sortino Field Thursday afternoon.

It marked the first time in the history of the A-10 Softball Championship that the top two seeds both lost their first game of the double-elimination tournament. Top-seeded Dayton lost to No. 4 George Mason earlier in the day, 8-5.

Fordham (34-18) advances to Friday’s semifinal and will face Mason at noon. Saint Louis (36-17) will turn around and play an elimination game against La Salle at 5:45 p.m.

Lindsay Mayer went 2-for-4, including a two-run single in the Rams’ big inning. The third baseman also scored two runs, having a hand in four of the five scores. Mayer’s fifth-inning single scored Sydney Canessa and Brianna Turgeon and broke a 1-1 tie.  Mayer then scored from second on an Ally Vergona single.

Michele Daubman (11-8) struck out four and allowed three hits to get the win, while Patti Maloney earned her first save of the year, holding the Billikens hitless over three innings with a strikeout and a walk.

Brianna Lore (18-10) allowed four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings in the loss.

SLU claimed a 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to consecutive two-out doubles by Hailey Weavers and Emma Buckles. Buckles laced a shot to left center that scored Weavers, who had reached on a double to right center.

Fordham tied the game in the next half inning on a Sydney Canessa solo home run to left center. The Rams added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Brianna Turgeon led off with a homer to left. In all, Fordham had nine hits.

The Billikens finished with three hits in the game, one each from Weavers, Buckles and Josie Knesel.