Piscataway, NJ – The Hofstra softball team dropped a non-conference doubleheader from Piscataway, New Jersey on Sunday, falling 7-1 against Lehigh and 3-2 versus hosts Rutgers at the Scarlet Knight Classic.
 
Hofstra is now 26-21 with the defeats, while Lehigh improves to 24-26 with wins over Hofstra and Georgetown, and Rutgers now sits at 25-24 with wins over the Pride and Georgetown earlier in the afternoon.
 
Game 1: Lehigh 7, Hofstra 1
 
Hofstra took an early 1-0 lead over the Mountain Hawks when Alanna Morse beat the throw home on a weak ground ball by Gabby Sultan. Lehigh evened the score in the third inning on a bases-loaded groundout before scoring on a wild pitch to pull ahead 2-1. The Mountain Hawks broke the game open with a five-run seventh inning to lead by six. Hofstra had a chance to cut into the lead in the bottom half of the seventh, as Morse and Sultan drew walks and Dahlia Palacio recorded a double to load the bases with two outs, but Chelsea Villar went down swinging for the game's final out.
 
Game 2: Rutgers 3, Hofstra 2
 
Rutgers opened the contest with a lead-off home run to take a quick 1-0 lead before Sultan brought Palacio home with a double in the top of the third inning to even the score at 1-1. The Scarlet Knights pulled back in front with a one-out, solo home run in the bottom half of the inning, and tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning with a SAC fly to deep center with the bases loaded. Palacio brought the Pride to within one when she crossed home safely on a wild pitch in the sixth inning, but Hofstra couldn't push the tying run across home plate before the final out.
 
Palacio batted .800 over the doubleheader with four hits in five at-bats, including two doubles against Lehigh, while Sultan drove in an RBI in both games. Emma Falen struck out six batters across six innings against Lehigh, while Madison Steppe struck out five Rutgers batters across four innings.
 
Hofstra welcomes Monmouth for the season-ending series from Bill Edwards Stadium beginning on Thursday at 5 p.m.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 20-5 all-time against Lehigh and 25-9 all-time versus Rutgers. This was Hofstra's first meeting against Lehigh since April 8, 2015, and the first meeting against Rutgers since March 29, 2017.
-Palacio's three-hit game against Lehigh was her second of the season.
-Palacio and Sultan now have 17 doubles each for the season, tied with Robyn Trezise (1995) and Caryn Bailey (2013) for the fifth-most doubles in a season in program history.