Newark, DE – Julia Apsel put in another dominant performance inside the pitching circle as the Hofstra softball team snapped a three-game losing streak against Coastal Athletic Association opponents with a 2-0 win against Delaware from the Delaware Softball Diamond.
 
Hofstra improves to 15-21 and 12-7 in the CAA following the Friday afternoon victory, and the Blue Hens drop to 31-9 and 16-3 in league play with the loss.
 
Delaware recorded only four hits against Apsel, with three coming in the first four innings as the senior pitcher sat down five Delaware batters for strikeouts, including three straight Ks in the second inning to keep the game scoreless. With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, Alanna Morse singled to right field to keep the inning alive. On an 0-0 pitch to Mackenzie Fitzgerald, the freshman third baseman hit an opposite-way single to right field. The Delaware right fielder bobbled the ball, allowing Morse to break the deadlock and put the Pride ahead by one.
 
Delaware threatened in the bottom of the sixth with a double by Julia Boyet, but she would be the only baserunner for the Blue Hens for the rest of the game as Apsel struck out another two batters to give her seven punchouts for the day. The Pride plated a second run after a Delaware fielding error by the left fielder on a Gabriella Sultan line drive in the top of the seventh, and Apsel retired the final three batters to secure the win.
 
Morse went a perfect 3-3 at the plate and scored a pair of runs, while Fitzgerald, Sultan, Olivia Malinowski, Becca Vaillancourt, and Kayla Wilson all drew hits against Blue Hens pitcher Emily Winburn.
 
Hofstra's series against Delaware continues on Saturday, April 20, at 3 p.m.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 76-28 against Delaware in the all-time series.
-This was the first three-hit game of the season for Morse, and the third of her career.
-Apsel pitched her ninth complete game of the season.
-Aliya Catanzarita drew both of Hofstra's two walks.