Louisville, KY – The Hofstra softball team scored two runs in the first inning but the University of Louisville prevailed with three runs in three separate frames in the Cardinal Classic finale on Sunday afternoon.
Hofstra tallied six hits to Louisville's three, and two of them came in the top of the first inning when
Sam Ward drilled an RBI double to left field before
Angelina Ioppolo followed up shortly after with another RBI double to right-center. Louisville responded with one run in the bottom half of the stanza with a sacrifice fly to cut the Hofstra lead in half.
The Cardinals tied the game in the bottom half of the third inning when a walk and stolen base set up Carmyn Greenwood for an RBI double which tied the game up, 2-2. After a scoreless fourth, Hofstra knocked at the door as
Meghan Giordano and Ward dialed up back-to-back singles, but Giordano was thrown out at home from left field attempting to score from second on Ward's base hit. Hofstra also had runners on first and second in the top of the sixth but Hofstra was called out for making contact with the ball outside of the batter's box to end the inning.
Louisville took the lead with a one-out solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, increasing the score to 3-2. Hofstra never gave up as
Kasey Collins singled up the middle to lead off the inning and
Chelsea Manto walked before a fielder's choice put runners on first and third, but the game ended with a ground out to the pitcher as Louisville avenged its loss to the Pride from Friday evening.
Julia Apsel pitched a complete-game and surrendered three hits while striking out one batter.
Hofstra finished the Cardinal Classic with a 2-3 record and moves to 2-12 on the season.
Hofstra makes its way back north next weekend for a four-game set in Baltimore, MD for the UMBC Series. The Pride will kick off the weekend with two games against UMBC and Brown before facing UMBC for a doubleheader on Saturday.
NOTES:
-Ioppolo and Ward finished with a team-high .357 batting average over the course of the last five games with five hits.
-Ioppolo and
Madison McKevitt drove in three runs each
-Hofstra struck out 21 batters over the five games
-The Pride recorded five total extra base hits in the span