The Hofstra University softball team lost 3-0 in the first round of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) championship to the Stony Brook University Seawolves on Wednesday, May 8. In the subsequent elimination game on Wednesday, the Pride staved off elimination by beating the Elon University Phoenix 6-0.
Hofstra made adjustments with their backs against the wall during their game against Elon, coming out hot in the first inning. Kayla Wilson led off the top of the first with a single to left center before stealing second. After two outs, Aliya Catanzarita capitalized on the scoring opportunity and brought Wilson home with an RBI single to right field.
In the third, Chelsea Villar reached base on fielder’s choice by grounding to shortstop, giving Olivia Malinowski enough time to cross home plate. After that, Catanzarita made herself a thorn in Elon’s side once more by making the 60-foot dash from third on a wild pitch.
After a leadoff walk for Wilson and a single from Vaillancourt in the sixth inning, Catanzarita launched a no-doubt home run over the left center wall to increase the team’s lead to 6-0, avoiding elimination from the tournament.
The team wasn’t so lucky earlier in the day in their game against Stony Brook, especially in the fourth inning. The bases were loaded for Hofstra’s Mackenzie Fitzgerald when she hit a two-out ground ball to Kyra McFarland at shortstop and her throw appeared to have pulled Corinne Badger off the first base bag. A run came around to give the Pride a 1-0 lead until Stony Brook challenged the ruling on the field. As Badger was being pulled off the bag on the misdirected throw, she tagged Fitzgerald before she got to first, ending the inning and preventing Hofstra from scoring.
It was a two-run swing as the Seawolves scored in the bottom of the fourth and stole all of the momentum. With a runner on second and two outs in the fourth, Julianna Sanzone roped an RBI single to left field to give the Seawolves a 1-0 lead.
McFarland tacked another run on in the sixth with a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield, scoring Madelyn Stepski. After that, Badger crushed a no-doubt shot down the left field line to give the Seawolves a 3-0 lead.
Julia Apsel started both games for the Pride, shining in game two as she struck out eight Phoenix batters and pitched five shutout innings. She struggled a bit in game one, as she surrendered three runs, two of which were earned on five hits.
Catanzarita had herself quite the afternoon, as she went 4-7 with two runs scored and four RBIs across both games.
The Pride is back in action on Thursday, May 9, as they’ll face the lowest seed out of the two losing teams from Thursday’s second round between No. 1 Campbell University against No. 4 UNC-Wilmington and No. 2 Delaware University against No. 3 Stony Brook. First pitch of Hofstra’s second elimination game is set for 5 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Doug Neeb
