Newark, Del. – The Hofstra softball team battled back and stayed in it all day but ultimately fell in the rubber game to the Delaware Blue Hens at the Delaware Softball Diamond on Sunday afternoon, 8-6.
 
Hofstra fell to 16-23 overall and 9-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while Delaware moved to 28-14 overall and 11-4 in the CAA.
 
Chelsea Manto and Meghan Giordano finished with a 2-for-4 day at the plate while also scoring two runs each. Both Manto and Giordano also recorded an extra-base hit, along with Sam Ward who recorded an RBI double.
 
Delaware struck first in the bottom of the second with a two-run single that scored two runners who reached base with a base hit to the left side. Neither team scored in the third and fourth innings.
 
The final three frames saw each team scoring three runs in back-to-back innings, including six runs by Delaware in the fifth and sixth frames and three by Hofstra in the sixth and seventh. The Blue Hens increased their lead to 5-0 with an RBI double and back-to-back bases loaded walks, but a big looking strikeout by Haley Venturini put Hofstra back in the dugout to bat in the sixth.
 
Hofstra's first run crossed after Manto drilled a lead-off triple to left-center field and scored on a wild pitch. Giordano kept the momentum going with a double to the right-center gap, and two at-bats later, Ward smacked a pitch opposite field to trade places with Giordano. Shortly after a Delaware pitching change, Madison McKevitt roped a base hit to second base scoring pinch runner Kayla Wilson, cutting the Hofstra deficit to just two runs, 5-3.
 
After Delaware answered Hofstra's spurt with three more runs of their own in the bottom half of the sixth, the Pride had the same exact answer in the top half of the seventh. Pinch hitter Anna Butler reached on an error to lead off the inning before Manto legged out a bunt to place runners on first second base. Giordano loaded the bases with a line drive single right back to the pitcher before Ioppolo knocked in her first run of the day with a ground out to second base. Things got interesting while Ward was batting as Hofstra trimmed the deficit to two once again as Manto scored on a wild pitch and Giordano scored on an error on the same play, but that was all Hofstra could get as the game finished with the score 8-6.
 
Nikki Mullin took the loss on the rubber after pitching 4.2 innings with two strikeouts.
 
Hofstra is back in action on Wednesday, April 27 for a mid-week non-conference single-game against Villanova. First pitch at Bill Edwards Stadium is set for 3 p.m.
 
Notes:
-McKevitt led Hofstra this past weekend with a .625 batting average (5-for-8) with a team-high four RBI with two doubles
-Giordano and Ward each finished the weekend with three RBI
-Manto recorded her first triple of the season
-Pisapia struck out seven batters in seven innings of work over the series