Atlanta, GA - Sophomore second baseman Jess Hirschbuhl (Jamison, PA) was 2-for-2 with two doubles and three RBI and sophomore pitcher Erin Wade (Taunton, MA) threw a four-hitter for her eighth straight victory as Hofstra salvaged an important split with Georgia State with a 5-1 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Bob Heck Field.

In the opener, Audrey Mason doubled to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning and came around to score on a squeeze play as the Panthers captured a 1-0 win in an extended pitching duel between Hofstra freshman Olivia Galati (West Bablyon, NY) and Georgia State freshman McCall Langford.

The split moves Hofstra to 35-10 on the season, including 14-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Georgia State sees its record move to 32-16 overall and 11-6 in the CAA, staying 3.5 games behind the Pride for first place. Hofstra now needs just one more win (or Georgia State loss) in the last four conference games (the Pride hosts Drexel next weekend, while Georgia State hosts Towson) to clinch the regular season CAA title and right to host the conference tournament on May 12-14. A regular season title would also mark the 19th year in a row that the Pride has won either a regular season or a postseason conference championship.

Wade improved to 14-4 with the four-hitter, as she has not lost since a March 30 defeat at Maryland. She struck out seven and walked three, while improving her record to 6-0 in conference games this season.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Galati finished with 11 strikeouts, four hits and the one run allowed in 9.1 innings of work as she slipped to 20-6 on the season with the tough-luck loss. She allowed only three hits through the first nine innings, all of which were of the infield variety, but the Pride could manage only three hits through the first seven innings off of Langford, and then left seven runners on base in the 7th-9th innings. Langford finished with a 10-inning complete-game six-hitter, striking out seven and walking none to improve to 13-2.

After Mason led off with a double down the left field line, the fourth Panther hit (and the first that left the infield), Lily Skelton sacrificed her over to third base with a bunt. Shortstop Rachel Cunningham followed with a squeeze bunt to get Mason home with the only run of the game.

Through the first seven innings, Hofstra had the best scoring chance for either team in the top of the first, as senior center fielder Kris Root (Waynesboro, PA) and freshman designated player Rachael Senatore (Sparta, NJ) led off with back-to-back singles. A groundout moved the runners up to second and third with one out, but Langford was able to escape the jam with a strikeout and a groundout.

Neither team generated a threat until Georgia State's Cassie Boese led off the bottom of the fourth with an infield single. Whitney Phillips then sacrificed her to second, but Galati responded with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game scoreless.

Meanwhile, Hofstra was unable to generate anything offensively against Langford until the late innings, as she retired 18 of 19 Pride batters after the two singles to start the game, allowing only a two-out single from junior third baseman Sara Michalowski (Philadelphia, PA) in the fourth in that span. Langford also helped herself defensively, as she handled seven batted balls back into the circle, including six grounders and a line drive from Senatore in the sixth.

Boese earned her second infield single of the game for the Panthers with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and stole second, but Galati then got Phillips to ground out back to the pitching circle to end the inning.

Hofstra left seven runners on base in the 7th-9th innings as it couldn't break through on the scoreboard. Georgia State committed two errors in the field in the top of the seventh to put two runners on with one out, but Langford escaped the jam with a pop-up to shortstop and a strikeout. Galati retired the side in order in the bottom half to send the game into extra innings.

Senatore picked up her second hit of the game with two outs in the eighth inning, and senior first baseman Michele DePasquale (Waterford, NJ) followed with a single to right field to move Senatore to second. Once again, though, the Pride left the runners stranded as Langford got freshman right fielder Tessa Ziemba (Wilmington, DE) to fly out to end the inning.  

Galati walked her only batter of the game (Cunningham) to lead off the bottom of the eighth, and responded with her 10th strikeout. Pinch runner Lauren Fetters stole second base, and Galati then struck out her 11th batter of the afternoon, pinch-hitter Paige Nowacki, for the second out. Danielle Roddy, the Panthers' leading hitter, grounded out to second base to end the threat and send the game to the ninth.

Hofstra left the bases loaded in the ninth as it continued to let opportunities slip away. Michalowski and Galati were both hit by pitches to lead off the top of the ninth, putting two runners on and nobody out. The Pride were unable to sacrifice the runners over, and one out later, junior shortstop Trisha Dreslinski (Kingsville, OH) singled sharply to left field to load the bases with one out. Georgia State then drew the infield in and forced out pinch-runner Michelle Lavagnino (Fredericksburg, VA) at the plate for the second out, before pinch hitter Stefanie Feinstein (West Chester, PA) fouled out to catcher.

Georgia State went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of lineouts, while Hofstra went 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th, with a lineout to center from DePasquale, before Mason's leadoff double in the bottom half set up the game's only run.   

In the nightcap, Hofstra finally broke through on the scoreboard in the second inning, when Hirschbuhl hit a two-out, two-run double to give the Pride an early 2-0 lead. Dreslinski started the rally with a two-out walk, and moved to third on a single from sophomore catcher Courtney Crews (Stafford, VA).

Georgia State got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the second, as Skelton homered to left field with two outs, bringing the Panthers back within 2-1.

In her next plate appearance, Skelton was hit by a Wade pitch to lead off the fourth, but the Pride was able to turn a double play with two on and one out to help Wade escape the mini-jam. The Pride tried to pick up an insurance run in the fifth, as Hirschbuhl was hit by a pitch with one out in the fifth and moved to third on an error on Root's sacrifice bunt. However, Hirschbuhl was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to second from DePasquale, and Ziemba flew out to end the inning.  

Hofstra gave itself some breathing room with three runs in the top of the sixth, as Michalowski led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout. Freshman left fielder Becca Bigler (Jamison, PA) then singled up the middle and Michalowski was able to beat the throw home to put the Pride ahead 3-1. An error allowed Bigler to score with the fourth run, and Hirschbuhl followed with another RBI double to push the Pride advantage to 5-1.

Root added a single in the sixth inning to stretch her hitting streak to 10 games, a career-long and one shy of the longest streak for a Pride player this season (11 by Ziemba). She also stole second, making her a perfect 9-9 stealing bases this season and giving her 47 in her career, eight shy of the school record.  

Roddy and Boese had back-to-back singles with one out in bottom of the seventh to put one last threat together for the Panthers. Wade then struck out Phillips for the second out, and got Lauren Jones to ground out to shortstop to end the game. 

The two teams will complete the three-game series with a single game tomorrow at 12 noon. A Hofstra win would clinch the regular season title.