On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, The Hofstra Pride softball team beat the Towson Tigers 6-5 on a walk-off hit by Lacie Clark to start off their doubleheader. Sarah Cornell picked up her tenth win of the season and moves to 10-6 on the year.
Cornell pitched a complete game, giving up eight hits and five earned runs, while striking out five batters.
The Pride got off to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the Tigers answered back in the top of the third inning with a two-run home run to tie the game. Hofstra took the lead back in the bottom of the third inning off of Megan Patierno’s solo home run.
The game was tied again going into the bottom of the fifth inning when Brielle Pietrafesa had a solo shot of her own to give the Pride a 4-3 lead. This was Pietrafesa’s third consecutive game with a home run and her fourth homer this season.
Towson went on to score two unanswered runs to take a 5-4 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Tigers were playing catchup the entire game, but now, in the bottom of the seventh inning, it was the Pride’s turn to catchup. It did just that.
Pietrafesa was the first baserunner of the inning for Hofstra, drawing a one-out, four-pitch walk. Pateriano followed her up with a deep single off the wall to put runners on first and second with one out. An infield fly by Brittany Alloca moved the runners to second and third with two outs. Lacie Clark fearlessly came up to bat and knocked in the game-winning runs to end the game.
“[Clark] is letting the game come to her,” said Hofstra head coach Larissa Anderson. “She’s waiting for the ball to come into her zone and she’s putting a good swing on a good pitch.”
The Pride and the Tigers combined for six home runs in the first game. “We were on time in that first game, we hit the ball very, very well,” Coach Anderson said.
The Pride dropped the second game to Towson by a score of 3-1 and are now 11-14, 2-3 in CAA play. Senior Jessica Peslak (1-2) took the loss in game two after allowing three runs on eight hit over the course of four innings pitched. Lacey Clark scored Hofstra’s lone run on a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, while Brielle Pietrafesa and Courtney Scarpato each had two hits in the contest. The Pride left nine runners on base in the loss.
Hofstra will next travel to University of Connecticut to take on the Huskies in a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 5 at 2 p.m.
