Wilmington, NC - Led once again by the pitching of Julia Apsel and the batting of Becca Vaillancourt and Aliya Catanzarita, the Hofstra softball team picked up its third win in three days with a 6-1 victory over UNCW on Sunday afternoon at Boseman Field.

The win put the finishing touches on a road sweep by Hofstra of UNCW with the Pride outscoring the Seahawks, 16-2, in the three-game series. 

Hofstra is 10-17 and 8-4 in CAA action. The Pride is 4-1 over its last five games with the lone defeat being an extra innings loss to nationally-ranked Missouri on Tuesday. UNCW is now 17-15 and 8-4 in conference play following its fourth straight loss. 

It was actually UNCW that opened up the scoring in the contest as a double from Morgan Britt brought home Tayler Vitola for a 1-0 Seahawk lead in the third inning. 

The Pride would immediately answer in their next at bat as a single from Vaillancourt would score Alanna Morse to knot the score at one. Hofstra would then take the lead for good as Olivia Malinowski walked with the bases loaded to bring home Kayla Wilson and put the Pride ahead 2-1. 

Hofstra would break the game wide open in the fifth inning as they added four runs in the frame with a Chelsea Villar single scoring Gianna Iaquinto for the first run of the inning and then Malinowski doubling home a pair of runs later in the inning to account for the final two runs of the contest. 

Vaillancourt finished 2-4 in the game, while Catanzarita also added a pair of hits for the Pride. Malinowski led the way with three RBIs, while Wilson tallied two runs scored. 

Apsel allowed five hits over five innings with five strikeouts in earning her ninth win of the season. 

Britt had two hits for UNCW, while Vitola notched a hit and a run scored. Carrigan Ewers took the loss for the Seahawks, allowing two runs in 3.1 innings of work. 

Hofstra is back on the field on Wednesday when it travels to Rutgers for a 1 p.m. contest. 

NOTES
- The win was Hofstra's fourth consecutive over UNCW, and it runs the Pride's all-time record to 50-8 against the Seahawks.
- The CAA series sweep is the Pride's first of the season and the first since a three-game sweep of Drexel on May 5-6, 2023. 
- Apsel is the first Hofstra pitcher to earn the win in all three games of a CAA series since Olivia Galati did it against Towson on May 3-4, 2013.