After back-to-back wins, the Hofstra University softball team fell to the University at Buffalo 11-9 on Sunday, March 1. The Pride dropped to 3-9 on the season.
Coming off her first win of the 2026 season, Emma Falen got back-to-back starts for the Pride. Falen saw early struggles, allowing a single to leadoff hitter Emily Gorman and walking Reagan Terwilliger. Three-hole hitter Nicole Allen knocked a ground ball to Nicole Cancel. Cancel fielded the ball but did not land an accurate throw to first base, allowing Gorman to score the first of four runs in the opening frame.
Abbey Nagel continued to make the Pride pay, ripping a two RBI double to left field. The Pride continued to hurt themselves, making another error on Bri Delaney’s single that allowed another unearned run to Falen’s tally. The early chaos took Falen out of the circle only 0.1 innings into play. Freshman Madison Steppe relieved Falen and stopped the bleeding, retiring the next two batters via strikeouts.
The Pride faced a familiar foe in the circle, Olivia Russ, who got the start the day prior. In the first, Hofstra stranded the bases loaded; Dahlia Palacio worked a walk, Gabby Sultan hit a single to left and Mackenzie Fitzgerald drew a walk.
Hofstra’s early struggles prevailed in the second inning as Buffalo’s offense picked up right where it left off. Gorman doubled through the right-center field gap, and Terwilliger followed with a single through the right side. Gorman was sent home, forcing a throw that caused Terwilliger to cruise into second. Allen found green, doubling to left-center field to score Terwilliger. Despite the two runs, Steppe fanned two in the inning.
The Pride got one back in the bottom half of the second inning. Gemma D’Orazio led off the inning with a walk. She took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Cancel’s groundout. Lily Yepez brought home the first Hofstra run of the day, knocking a single through the left side to score D’Orazio.
Steppe’s day ended after facing the first hitter in the third. Delaney took Steppe deep to extend the Bulls’ lead to six. Emma Brennan entered the circle and started her day with four consecutive balls to walk Ardyn Hopf. Brennan had trouble finding the strike zone, walking three consecutive hitters to walk in a run, which ended her day. Jillian Locher got the Pride out of a bases-loaded situation, retiring back-to-back hitters.
The Pride led the bottom of the third with singles to Sultan and Chelsea Villar. Victoria Frobosilo tripled to center field, driving in two runs, ending Russ’ day in the circle. Hofstra continued to claw back against Emily Watters. D’Orazio ripped an RBI single to center and stole second. Cancel singled up the middle, and D’Orazio tried to cut the deficit to just three but was gunned down at the plate. Yepez moved Villar to third on a single through the left side and stole second base to put two runners in scoring position, but the Pride were not able to cash in on the opportunity.
The Bulls’ red-hot offense kept chugging, extending the lead to seven. Nagel doubled to right field, and Delaney worked a walk; both runners moved into scoring position on a groundout. Ava Thelen drove in both runs on a triple down the right field line. Gorman knocked an RBI base hit to end Locher’s outing. Kailyn Haig got the Pride out of the inning.
Ryleigh Smith, who was substituted into the game, singled to left field to start the inning. Sultan came up with a blast – her second in two days. Villar followed with a walk, and Fitzgerald homered to chip away. Cancel rocked the third homer of the inning to cut the deficit to just two.
The Pride got the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the final frame, but Malena Toth stranded the two baserunners to secure the Bulls’ 11-9 victory.
Hofstra finished the weekend slate against James Madison University.
