Teaneck, N.J. – The Hofstra University softball team closed out the regular season with a pair of non-conference victories over Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday afternoon. Hofstra defeated the Knights in game one, 5-4 in nine innings before completing the sweep with an 8-2 victory in the nightcap.
Hofstra finishes the regular season with a 16-14 record. Fairleigh Dickinson saw its season come to a close with a 11-21 overall mark.
Freshman
Brianna Morse led Hofstra with three runs and three RBI, while sophomore
Aliya Catanzarita and senior
Devyn Losco each had a pair of hits. Losco and Morse both homered once, and 10 different Pride players scored at least one run.
Game 1: Hofstra 5, Fairleigh Dickinson 4 (9 inn.)
After a slow start for both teams, Hofstra finally broke through in the fourth inning when Losco homered to left-center, giving a Hofstra a 1-0 lead. Losco doubled the advantage two innings later with a two-out RBI double, scoring junior
Jaycee Ruberti who led off the inning with a walk and put herself in scoring position with a stolen base.
The Knights responded in a big way in bottom of the sixth, plating four runs on four hits to take a 4-2 lead over Hofstra. In what could have been their final at-bats, Hofstra rallied for two runs on two hits, tying the game at four. Freshman
Kayla Wilson singled to center to lead off with a walk before graduate student
Kristin Hallam ripped an RBI triple to right field to cut the deficit to one. Sophomore
Chelsea Manto leveled the score at four with a sacrifice fly, allowing Hallam to slide home with ease. FDU threatened in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second with two outs, but junior pitcher
Madison Burns tossed two-straight outs, sending the game to extra innings.
The teams opted to utilize the tiebreaker rule at the start of extra innings prior to the contest, however neither team managed to cross a run in the eighth inning. With junior
Amanda Maffucci entering as a pinch runner and standing on second to start the inning, junior
Madison McKevitt drove a base hit to left-center field, allowing Maffucci to score on a mis-play by the cut-off player. With the one-run advantage in the bottom of the ninth, Burns fired three-straight ground-outs to seal the first extra-inning victory of the season for the Pride.
Burns earned her sixth win on the year for Hofstra, tossing all nine innings while fanning three batters. FDU's Alayna Savaglio fell to 7-8 on the year and also tossed a complete-game for the Knights.
Game 2: Hofstra 8, Fairleigh Dickinson 2
Hofstra did all of its damage in the fifth inning, plating eight runs on seven hits while taking advantage of one Knight error.
Neither team scored for the first three innings for the second-straight game before Riley Schmeh broke the scoreless tie with a two-run homer to center field. Morse answered with a two-run shot of her own, knotting the game at two runs apiece. The Hofstra rally continued as three of the next four Hofstra batters reached base, before Giordano drove in junior
Kasey Collins with a hard hit to third. Junior
Angelina Ioppolo stretched Hofstra's lead to four runs when she pulled an 0-2 pitch to right, allowing Manto and Ruberti to score off the bat while Giordano also scored on an error by the right fielder.
Sophomore
Aliya Catanzarita and Morse delivered their second hits of the inning with back-to-back RBI singles to increase the Hofstra lead to 8-2, but the rally ended prematurely when a baserunner was called out for leaving early.
Sophomore
Nikki Mullin picked up her swagger as she retired seven-straight batters including two 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth. The Knights once again threatened in their final at-bats, but Hofstra got out of the inning as two FDU runners were stranded on base.
Mullin improved to 6-2 on the year and tossed a complete-game with one strikeout. Abby England took the loss for FDU, pitching 3.2 innings in relief.
Up Next:
Hofstra clinched the No. 5 seed in the upcoming CAA Championship beginning Wednesday, May 12. Hofstra will take on the No. 4 seeded Delaware Blue Hens in the opening game. First pitch in Harrisonburg, Virginia at James Madison University is at 11 a.m.
Notes:
-Hofstra and FDU faced each other for the first time in program history
-The Pride stole three bases on the day.
-Hofstra recorded five extra-base hits
-Hallam has 151 runs for her career, needing one more to tie with Alicia Smith for third all-time
