Fort Myers, Fla. – Juniors Morgan Lashley and Taylor Pirone each threw complete-game victories for the second straight day as the Pride continues its hot start to the season with a 5-0 victory over Bethune-Cookman and an 8-0 win against Eastern Michigan in the second day of the FGCU Tournament on Saturday.
Pirone threw a four-hit shutout in the opener and struck out five and Lashley followed with a two-hitter in a five-inning contest in the nightcap to help Hofstra improve to 8-1 and 4-0 in the tournament. The Pride has belted 46 combined hits in the four games in Fort Myers and extended its winning streak to seven.
Senior shortstop Becca Bigler had three RBIs on the day and sophomore Kim Smith drove in two against Eastern Michigan. The Pride beat the Eagles for a second consecutive day.
Sophomore Caryn Bailey also drove in a run in each contest and fellow sophomore Chloe Fitzgerald logged a pair of two-hit games and scored three total runs.
Hofstra surged to the early lead with a six-run first inning against Eastern Michigan. Lashley threw a 1-2-3 top of the first and the Pride loaded the bases with a walk, single and an Eagles' error. Bailey hit a sacrifice fly to plate the first run. Bigler took a full-count pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single and senior Tori Rocha walked to re-load the bases and chase EMU starter Lauren Wells (1-5) in favor of Abbie Minsker.
Eastern Michigan then committed a second fielding error as the Pride scored again and sophomore Kim Smith took advantage of the extended inning with a two-run triple to left that made it 6-0. The Pride scored again in the second on junior Erin Trippi's RBI single and tacked on another score in the fourth on Bigler's hit to put the run-rule in place.
Lashley improved to 5-0 and has four complete games and two shutouts. The right-hander faced 22 batters and struck out 10 with 62 of her 95 pitches going for strikes.
In the opener, Hofstra scored in the first and plated three more runs in the second to support Pirone's gem. Bailey's RBI groundout scored senior Rachael Senatore to start the inning and the Pride scored three more against BCU starter Bailey Conner (1-6).
Smith and Senatore lined back-to-back one-out singles in the third and Fitzgerald brought in the first run with a RBI infield single. Sophomore Maggie Hawkins continued Hofstra's trend of making productive outs with a RBI ground out and Trippi then singled to shortstop to bring home Fitzgerald.
Bigler doubled home Trippi for an insurance run in the fourth. It was all the support Pirone would need as the right-hander did not allow a hit until the fourth inning. The transfer from Fordham upped her record to 3-1. She has a team-leading 1.27 ERA with three complete games in four starts.
Hofstra will conclude the FGCU Tournament on Sunday with a 12:15 p.m. game against Michigan State.
