Hempstead, NY – In a game that featured a combined seven errors, seven hit batters, 16 hits, and 16 runs, the Hofstra softball team opened its three-game series against preseason CAA favorites Delaware with a 10-6 win over the Blue Hens from Bill Edwards Stadium.
Hofstra runs its winning streak to three games and improves its record to 5-19 overall and 2-5 in the conference, and Delaware drops to 17-9 overall and 6-1 in league play.
Delaware took an early lead in the first inning with a solo home run by Sydney Shaffer, but the Pride rebounded in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs.
Chelsea Villar slapped a lead-off double and advanced to third on a groundout by
Dahlia Palacio before she took advantage of a wild pitch to
Anna Butler, beating the throw home to even the game at 1-1. After
Alanna Morse reached base on a Delaware error and
Gemma D'Orazio earned a six-pitch walk to load the bases, the Pride took a 2-1 lead when
Sophia Polzella was hit by a pitch.
Delaware evened the score at 2-2 in the third inning with a solo homer by Katie Scheivert, but D'Orazio put Hofstra back on top with an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning. The Blue Hens pulled ahead with a two-run fourth inning after a Hofstra fielding error allowed two runners to score with the bases loaded, but Hofstra answered back with a three-run fourth inning on a two-run single by Morse to put the hosts ahead by one and a bases loaded hit by pitch on Polzella to make it a two-run difference. After a run in the fifth inning made it 7-4 Hofstra, Delaware clawed a run back with a run of their own to make it a 7-5 scoreline.
Polzella singled through the gap between third base and shortstop in the sixth inning to make it 8-5 Hofstra, and
Nicole Cancel cleared the bases with a two-run pinch-hit single to up the Pride's lead to 10-5. Shaffer belted her second homer of the day deep to left center in the seventh inning, but
Carley Ernst and the Pride defense kept any additional runs off the board to secure the win and snap Delaware's six-game CAA winning streak.
Of Hofstra's 10 hits, D'Orazio, Palacio, and Polzella all recorded two hits in the win, while Polzella drove home three runs and Morse scored a pair.
Emma Falen picked up her third win of the season with six strikeouts over five innings, while Ernst recorded her third save with two innings of work in the circle.
The series between the Pride and the Blue Hens continues on Saturday, March 22, at 1 p.m. from Bill Edwards Stadium.
NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 77-30 all-time against Delaware.
-Four Hofstra batters were hit by pitch against the Blue Hens. It marks the most hit Hofstra batters in a game since four were plunked against North Carolina State on March 3, 2012.
-Palacio has now had four consecutive games with a double.
-This was Hofstra's first win this season when an opponent has hit two or more home runs.
