Hempstead, NY – Another dominating performance in the circle from Julia Apsel and timely hitting from the Hofstra softball team delivered the Pride a 6-3 win at home over North Carolina A&T for its sixth consecutive win and a back-to-back CAA series sweep.
 
Hofstra improves to 13-17 and 11-4 in the Coastal Athletic Association with the win over North Carolina A&T, while the Aggies drop to 8-26 and 2-13 against league opponents.
 
Apsel picked up her 12th win of the season and her sixth consecutive win with six innings pitched and 10 strikeouts, matching the previous day's total of 10 Ks for 20 strikeouts in 24 hours. Apsel's six consecutive wins are the most by a Hofstra pitcher since Olivia Galati won seven straight starts from May 3-17, 2013.
 
After Apsel picked up five strikeouts in the first three innings against the Aggies, Alanna Morse led off the third inning with a single to left field. Facing two outs and Morse still standing on first, Olivia Malinowski delivered a hard-hit double to the wall in left center, scoring Morse for the 1-0 Hofstra lead. The Pride's lead grew to two in the fourth inning, after Kayla Wilson laced a triple into the right field corner to score Gianna Iaquinto.
 
After a leadoff triple put the Aggies in scoring position to open the sixth inning, Apsel settled in and recorded three straight outs to end the threat. Hofstra added to its lead with another two runs in the bottom of the sixth. After Iaquinto started the inning with a single and Wilson drew a walk, Mackenzie Fitzgerald advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Chelsea Manto smacked a triple off the glove of the North Carolina A&T centerfielder to clear the bases and set the score at 6-0 Hofstra. The Aggies made a comeback attempt in the seventh inning scoring three runs to close the gap to three, but Marisa Ogden recorded the final two outs of the inning to preserve the win and the sweep.
 
Iaquinto and Morse both went 2-3 at the plate, while Morse drove in two RBIs, and Olivia Malinowski recorded two hits and an RBI in four at-bats. Ogden and Annabella Pisapia both tallied strikeouts in their seventh-inning relief appearances.
 
Hofstra turns its focus now to LIU in non-conference play, with the Pride traveling to Brooklyn for a 4 p.m. start on Wednesday, April 10, before returning to Bill Edwards Stadium for a three-game conference series against Stony Brook.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 4-2 all-time against North Carolina A&T.
-Hofstra recorded consecutive CAA sweeps for the first time since the Pride swept its first five conference opponents during the 2018 season.
-With a walk drawn against the Aggies, Becca Vaillancourt has reached base safely in nine consecutive games.
-With seven runners left on base today, North Carolina A&T stranded 21 baserunners over the course of the series.
-Hofstra is now 11-2 when outhitting its opposition.