LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Hofstra University softball team kicked off action at the 2020 Liberty Spring Classic on Friday and dropped a pair of contests to Butler and Liberty.
A trio of Pride players tallied two hits on the day including freshman
Jordan Pietrzykoski, sophomore
Angelina Ioppolo and sophomore Madison Sophomore
Meghan Giordano and senior
Alexis Goeke also had one hit each.
Game 1: Butler 1, Hofstra 0
Hofstra got base hits from five different players, including Giordano, McKevitt, Ioppolo, Pietrzykoski and Goeke, and three other players reached on a walk, however Hofstra was unable to perform timely hitting as all 10 baserunners were left stranded.
Karli Ricketts was the difference-maker for the Bulldogs, as her lead-off home run in the bottom of the fourth inning was all the Bulldogs needed. Hofstra had runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth with one out, however two-straight outs halted Hofstra's charge.
Sophomore
Madison Burns (1-4) suffered the loss and pitched a complete-game for Hofstra, striking out four while surrendering zero walks against her 23 batters faced. Alyssa Graves (4-1) was credited with the win for the Bulldogs.
Game 2: Liberty 6, Hofstra 1
Liberty scored three runs in the second and three more in the third as Hofstra struggled to get the bats going early on. The Pride picked things up in the fifth when Goeke reached base on an error to lead off the inning before Ioppolo added a two-out single to put runners on first and second. Pietrzykoski drove in McKevitt with an RBI single to put Hofstra on the board. McKevitt added a base hit in the seventh for Hofstra but Liberty controlled the pace the remainder of the way.
Freshman
Nikki Mullin (1-3) took the loss inside the circle and pitched 2.0 innings. Sophomore
Mackenzie Suto and freshman
Natalie Grubczak saw time in relief.
Up Next:
Hofstra is back for two more games tomorrow at the Liberty Spring Classic. The Pride will face Penn at 1 p.m. before taking on Yale following the conclusion of game one. Both games will be played at Kamphius Field at the Liberty Softball Stadium.