By Jeff Werner – STAFF WRITER
After splitting the doubleheader against the Elon Phoenix on Saturday, the Hofstra Pride softball team took the rubber match of the series on Sunday 4-3.
Most of the game was dominated by the pitching. Jessica Peslak of Hofstra and Kayla Caruso of Elon each pitched five-plus scoreless innings. Peslak, despite giving up three runs, pitched a total of ten innings with two strikeouts and five hits.
It was only a matter of time before one of the offenses broke the scoreless game. That offense came in the sixth inning in the form of Elon’s Carey Million. She belted the ball over the left-center wall, giving the Phoenix a 2-0 lead.
With their backs against the wall, the Pride rallied to tie the game back up in the top of the seventh. Brittany Allocca got the rally started with a solo home run to open the inning. Then, with a runner on second and two outs, Lacey Clark hit the ball hard enough to right field to drive in the runner and keep the Pride alive.
Elon couldn’t answer the two-run inning rally in the bottom of the seventh, so the game went into extra innings. Pitching once again dominated the game, not allowing any runs until the eleventh inning. By then, the Phoenix were starting to fatigue, as an error and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out for Brielle Pietrafesa, who singled to center field, allowing the runner on third to score.
Following Pietrafesa’s RBI-single, Alyssa Cuzzola grounded out to third, adding a insurance run to the Pride’s 3-2 lead. That insurance run proved to be decisive, as Peslak gave up a solo homer at the start of the bottom half of the eleventh. Head coach Larissa Anderson decided to pull Peslak and put in Courtney Scarpato, and she shut the door on the Phoenix to give Hofstra the 4-3 victory.
With the win, the Pride get back to an even record in conference-play at 4-4. Next up for them will be a trip to New Rochelle, NY for a quick game against Iona College on Wednesday before their next three-game weekend series against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.
