Mt. Pleasant, SC – Trailing hosts Charleston 6-1 going into the final inning, the Hofstra softball team roared back with an 11-run seventh frame to complete the comeback and win, 12-6, over the Cougars in CAA action from Patriots Point Complex.
The come-from-behind win puts Hofstra at 21-23 and 17-9 in league play, and runs the Pride's winning streak to six consecutive games, and Charleston drops to 9-39 and 3-23 in the conference.
With neither side able to break through for the first two innings and Hofstra was held scoreless in the third, the Cougars took their first lead of the series on a bases-clearing, three-run double in the bottom of the third inning, and they added to their lead with a two-run fifth inning to make it 5-0 to the home team.
Aliya Catanzarita got Hofstra on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI double to score
Olivia Malinowski and make it a 5-1 score, but Charleston responded in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run to put the deficit back to five runs.
Gabriella Sultan came in to pinch hit in the seventh inning and reached base on a fielding error, while
Dahlia Palacio slapped in infield single to advance Sultan to third, and
Gianna Iaquinto drew a six-pitch walk to load the bases with no outs.
Kayla Wilson drove in a run after being hit by a pitch to make it 6-2, and
Becca Vaillancourt laced a single past the Charleston first baseman to score
Nicole Cancel and cut the Cougar lead to three runs. Malinowski cut the margin to one run with a single through the left side, scoring Cancel and
Chelsea Manto, and
Chelsea Villar sent a single over the first baseman and into right field on a 1-1 pitch to even the score at 6-all.
After Charleston made a pitching change with no outs and the bases still loaded,
Alanna Morse put the Pride on top for the first time in the game with an RBI single into right field, and the inning continued as the Pride batted around and Sultan drove a SAC fly to right to score Catanzarita and make it 8-6 Hofstra. Manto smacked a single past the diving third baseman to score Morse and Villar, breaking the game open with two runs. Cancel crossed home on a wild pitch, and Manto made it 12-6 after she scored on a fielder's choice groundout at first.
Julia Apsel came into the game in the bottom of the inning and retired the final three Charleston batters to complete the comeback win.
Vaillancourt tallied three hits in five at-bats and drove in two RBIs in the win, while Manto scored two runs on two hits, and Malinowski and Wilson both drove in a pair of runs each.
Annabella Pisapia picked up her third win of the season after pitching 2.0 innings of relief and struck out three Charleston batters after
Marisa Ogden went 4.0 innings in the start.
The series and the regular season concludes on Sunday, May 4, at 12 p.m.
NOTES:
-Hofstra improves to 18-8 all-time against Charleston.
-The 11 runs are the most scored in an inning by the Pride this season, and it's the most scored by Hofstra in a single inning since plating 11 in the second inning against Iona on April 1, 2015.
-With 12 hits today and in Friday's win, Hofstra records double-digit hit totals in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
-The Pride has now won six CAA series in 2024.
