Elon, NC – The 2026 season for the Hofstra softball team came to an end in the championship game of the 2026 CAA Softball Championship with a 5-0 loss to Charleston from Hunt Softball Park on the campus of Elon University.
#5 seed Charleston jumped out to an early lead with a pair of runs on a bases loaded single in the bottom of the first, and they added to their lead with an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. After
Nicole Cancel drew a two-out walk in the third inning,
Alanna Morse broke up Charleston's no-hitter with an outfield single in the third inning to put runners on first and second before
Dahlia Palacio went down swinging as one of 13 strikeouts by Charleston's Mackenzie Mathis to end the scoring opportunity. Charleston tacked on another two runs in the fifth inning on a pair of RBI singles, and the defense and Mathis retired six consecutive batters to clinch its first CAA title in program history.
Morse and Yepez tallied Hofstra's only two hits of the contest, while Cancel and
Gabby Sultan drew one walk each.
Emma Falen and
Madison Steppe both pitched valiantly from the circle in their final appearances of the season, and the final appearance of her collegiate career for Falen.
Hofstra's 2026 season ends with a 31-23 record.
NOTES:
-Cancel, Falen, and Yepez were named to the CAA All-Tournament Team.
-Palacio ends the season with 19 doubles, tied with Alicia Smith (19, 1999) for the third-most doubles in a single season in program history.
-The 2026 Hofstra squad finished with 92 doubles as a team, the second-most in a season in program-history.
-This was the second time Hofstra was held scoreless by a CAA opponent this season.
