By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR
An early 6-1 deficit costed the Hofstra Pride softball team, 6-5, in Sunday’s finale series against the Towson Tigers down in Maryland.
The Pride stay afloat above .500 with a 14-13 record after losing the rubber match against the Tigers. Hofstra has lost three of the last four games despite the offense scoring at least five or more runs.
Hofstra pulled back into contention in the final frame but it was too little too late.
The Pride rallied four runs in the seventh to cut Towson’s lead to one. Pinch-hitter Madison Ambush supplied the run production in one swing, hitting her first home run – a grand slam – in a Pride uniform.
Then, Nikki Michalowski got hit by a pitch and advanced on a ground out during Fitzgerald’s at-bat, moving Michalowski into scoring position as the potential tying run.
Caryn Bailey stepped to the plate and cracked one to centerfield but fell short as Tigers centerfielder Kendyl Scott made the catch to end the game.
The first three hitter Fitzgerald, Bailey and Kim Smith each went 1-for-4 on the day. Bailey has started to cool down since her nine-game hitting spanning from Feb. 28 to March 20. She’s recently gone 3-for-13 (.230 average) at the plate in the last four games. Leadoff hitter Fitzgerald recently gone 2-for-14 (.140 average) in batter’s box.
Yet, Ambush is perfect at the plate (3-for-3) in the few offensive opportunities. She started out as a pinch runner but moved up as a pinch hitter in the last week and has made the most of it.
Back-to-back multi-run rallies from Towson put the Pride in a hole that they could not dig out of.
Hofstra starter Jessica Peslak took the loss, surrendering all six earned runs in six frames in the circle. She also coughed up five hits and four walks but notched six strikeouts.
Peslak’s earned run average balloons to 4.86 and her record drops to 9-6.
Towson’s Holiday Cahill got to Peslak first with one swing to put the Tiger’s out in front 3-0 in the bottom of the first.
Then in the bottom of second, Shelby Stratcher sent one pitch over the left field wall for a three-run homer to extend the Tigers’ lead to five runs.
Prior to the Tigers’ second three-run bomb, Hofstra’s Brielle Pietrafesa connected and put the Pride on the board with a solo shot in the top of the second.
She’s now tied for second on the team with five home runs with five altogether this season. Kim Smith currently leads the Pride with six homers in 2016.
Hofstra returns back to New York to compete against LIU Brooklyn this Thursday on March 31. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at LIU Field.
