By Mike Rudin - SPORTS EDITOR
Day three of the FAU Parent’s Weekend Tournament became no different for the Pride: erratic trends and inconsistency. Three last-minute runs in the seventh and two runs in extra innings were only enough to pull a 5-5 tie with the Florida Atlantic Owls.
Four of the five runs by the Owls were unearned and cost Hofstra the chance to take the rubber game of the five-game series.
Pride starter Morgan Lashley pitched through all of regulation and surrendered ten hits, three runs – one of which was earned – zero walks and put up nine strikeouts.
Both starters tossed goose eggs back and forth throughout the first four innings until the Owls broke the trend and got on the board first 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Hofstra struggled to get on the scoreboard within the first six innings of the game but the Pride changed their luck around with a three-run rally.
With one out left in the top of the seventh and Danielle Bitts on first after a fielder’s choice. Pinch hitter Cuzzola squeezed out a walk to keep the Pride alive and moved Bitts within striking distance of home at second base.
Chloe Fitzgerald stepped up and delivered a single up the middle that filled the bases with Caryn Bailey up next to bat. With one swing of the bat, Caryn Bailey changed the momentum of the game with a bases-clearing double to put the Pride up 3-1 over FAU.
Lashley could not close out the game with a fielding error at shortstop that revived the Owls. Eventually the fielding error led to back-to-back unearned runs that neutralized the score and sent the game into overtime.
The eighth inning was a pitcher’s showdown as Hofstra’s Taylor Pirone and Florida Atlantic’s Amanda Wilson, each put up goose eggs in the eighth and ninth inning.
Owls’ starter Amanda Wilson worked without any support from the bullpen, working through all 11 innings of the game. She allowed eight hits, five runs – three earned – and three walks, but she struck out 12 pride players at the plate.
The tenth inning hosted a pair pair of runs, one from each team to extend the game into the 11th inning.
With Clarke 60-feet away from home in the final inning, Michaela Transue fired a single down the right field line to put the Pride out in front in the top of the final inning.
Pirone needed three outs to secure the win in extra innings, but that fantasy slowly faded in the bottom of the 11th.
With one runner on second base to start the inning, Pirone came up clutch with a ground out and a strikeout, leaving the Pride one out away from the win. With the runner on third, Emily Lotchen ruined Prione’s chances for the win with an RBI double to drive in the runner, Lindsay Shell.
Pirone wrapped up the inning and both teams came out of the tournament with a 5-5 tie. Hofstra split the series at .500 over the weekend, going 2-2-1, but also stayed at .500 overall on the season 7-7-1.
The Pride will conclude their 15-game road trip and return home for the first game of the 2015 season against Dartmouth College on March 18 at 3:00 p.m
