Hempstead, NY – In its second game of the day and second meeting against Stony Brook in three days, the Hofstra softball team used a complete effort from its entire lineup and four pitchers to earn the 9-8 win over the Seawolves to advance to the CAA Championship game. The Pride, the No. 3 seed in the CAA Championship, improves to 27-25 overall as it advances to the final day of the CAA Championship, and No. 7 seed Stony Brook ends its first season of CAA softball with a 29-27 mark.
 
After Annabella Pisapia stranded two Stony Brook baserunners to open the game, Hofstra jumped on Stony Brook pitcher Ashton Melaas to take an early lead. After Kasey Collins drew a lead-off walk and Chelsea Manto reached base on an infield single, Meghan Giordano stepped up and laced a double into right field to score Collins. Manto made it 2-0 when she scored on a fielder's choice. After Angelina Ioppolo stole second and Aliya Catanzarita popped out, an RBI single by Becca Vaillancourt made it 3-0 Pride. An Alanna Morse single through the middle drove home Ioppolo, putting the score at 4-0.
 
Stony Brook cut the Hofstra lead to one with a three-run second inning, but Hofstra added a run in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a sacrifice fly to deep right by Giordano, scoring Kayla Wilson to make it 5-3 Pride over its Long Island rivals.
 
Stony Brook tied the game in the next inning with a pair of RBI singles, but the tie score wouldn't last as Hofstra plated three in the next half inning. Following three consecutive singles by Catanzarita, Vaillancourt, and Morse, Catanzarita beat the force-out at home on a pinch-hit tapper by Olivia Malinowski. Collins drove a deep sacrifice fly to center field, allowing both Vaillancourt and Morse to score thanks to lax fielding by Stony Brook, putting the score at 8-5.
 
After an explosive 13-run first three innings, the pitchers for both sides settled in and didn't allow another run to cross home plate until the bottom of the sixth inning. Ioppolo led off the inning with a single, followed by a four-pitch walk to Vaillancourt, putting runners on first and second with one out. Madison McKevitt, the hero of Hofstra's 9-5 win over UNCW on Wednesday, stepped into the batter's box and singled the first pitch offered through the hole in the right side of the infield to score Vaillancourt and add an insurance run to Hofstra's total.
 
Stony Brook didn't go down quietly in the seventh inning, putting two runners on base through a walk and a single. After Julia Apsel relieved Anna Butler and picked up a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Catherine Anne Kupinski sent a 3-2 pitch well over the left field wall to bring the Seawolves to within one run of forcing Hofstra to bat in the bottom half of the inning. Apsel recovered and forced a line out to Ioppolo, sending Hofstra to its first CAA Championship game since 2018.
 
Collins and Giordano each batted in two runs, while Manto, Catanzarita, and Morse recorded two hits in the game, and Ioppolo scored twice. Nikki Mullin earned her seventh win of the season, pitching 2.2 innings and allowing just two runs. Apsel pitched the final two outs of the game for the save, and Butler pitched two innings of relief.
 
Standing in Hofstra's way for a 10th CAA title and 13th conference championship is No. 5 seed Towson, who sent Hofstra into the loser's bracket with a 2-1 defeat of the Pride earlier in the afternoon. The two teams will meet at Bill Edwards Stadium at 12 p.m. on Saturday, and will play again at 2:30 p.m. should the Pride defeat Towson in the first game.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra will make its 15th appearance in the CAA Championship game in program history since joining the conference in 2002.
-Hofstra is now 21-7 all-time against Stony Brook, and Hofstra has won the last five meetings.
-Apsel's save was the first save of the 2023 CAA Championship.
-Four of Hofstra's nine runs came on sacrifice fly outs.
-All nine players in Hofstra's starting lineup recorded a hit.