Fort Myers, FL – The Hofstra softball team concluded its stay at the FGCU Eagle Invitational with a pair of defeats in a doubleheader to Louisiana Monroe on Sunday. The Pride lost the first game 7-0 before suffering a 10-2 defeat in five innings to the Warhawks. Hofstra ends its time in Florida 0-5, while Louisiana Monroe improves to 7-4.
In game one, Hofstra's best chance to take an early lead came in the bottom of the first inning, when
Chelsea Villar and
Alanna Morse both reached base on a pair of ULM errors, but the Warhawks got out of the jam unscathed. Louisiana Monroe took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, and stranded three Hofstra runners on base in the bottom half of the inning to keep the four-run lead. The Warhawks added another three in the fifth inning, and kept any Pride baserunners from crossing home plate for the shutout win.
Hofstra opened game two with a two-run first inning. After
Dahlia Palacio led off the inning with a single, she advanced to second on a wild pitched before moving all the way to third on a
Gemma D'Orazio groundout to first. Morse drove Palacio home with a single through the left side of the infield for the opening run, and Hofstra added a second two batters later on an RBI single to the outfield by
Gabby Sultan.
The Pride lead was short-lived, however, as Louisiana Monroe scored five runs in the bottom half of the inning before adding another five in the second inning, upping the lead to 10-2. Hofstra placed a total of four runners on base the rest of the way, but couldn't bring any of them home before the end of the fifth inning.
Morse and Palacio both collected three hits in seven at-bats across both games, while Sultan recorded two total hits on the day, and
Victoria Frobosilo and
Ryleigh Smith tallied one hit each in the day's second game.
Hofstra will next compete in Fairfax, Virginia against George Mason and FDU on February 21-22.
NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 0-3 all-time against Louisiana Monroe.
-The Pride pitched combined for six strikeouts across both games.
-Morse ends the FGCU Eagle Invitational with a team-best .438 batting average.
