The Hofstra University softball team beat the College of Charleston Cougars 12-6 in comeback fashion on Friday, May 3. The Pride improved to 21-23 overall and 17-9 in the Coastal Athletic Association. Charleston fell to 9-39 overall and 3-23 in the CAA.
It was all Cougars in the early innings as they led Hofstra 6-1 heading into the seventh. The Pride erased the five-run deficit with an 11-run seventh inning.
Charleston took a 3-0 lead in the third inning after being held scoreless through the first two frames. Brooke Marquez led off with a single to right field and advanced to second when Aniz Roman singled off the glove of Marisa Ogden on the mound with one out. Mia Dittoe laid down a bunt to load the bases for the Cougars. Brooke Tranum smoked a bases-clearing double to center field to give her team a 3-0 lead.
Hofstra head coach Adrienne Clark decided to make three pinch-hit substitutions to start the inning. Gabriella Sultan for Mackenzie Fitzgerald, Dahlia Palacio for Nicole Cancel and Gianna Iaquinto for Chelsea Manto.
Sultan led off by reaching first base safely on a fielding error by the third baseman. Palacio followed Sultan’s at-bat with a single to second and Iaquinto worked a walk to load the bases for Kayla Wilson with no outs.
Both Cancel and Manto re-entered to pinch run as Wilson knocked in Sultan on a hit-by-pitch. Back-to-back RBI singles from Becca Vaillancourt and Olivia Malinowski cut the deficit to one. After, Aliya Catanzarita loaded the bases by reaching first on a fielding error, back-to-back singles off the bats of Chelsea Villar and Alanna Morse tied and gave the Pride a 7-6 lead. A sacrifice fly, a single, a wild pitch and a productive RBI groundout capped off Hofstra’s 11-run inning.
Ogden got the start for the Pride today, pitching four-plus innings and surrendering five runs on seven hits and one walk. Annabella Pisapia came in to relieve Ogden of her duties in the fifth and pitched two innings of one-run ball also allowing three hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Pisapia earned the win in relief. Julia Apsel slammed the door in relief as she tossed one shutout inning and fanned one.
Vaillancourt went three-for-five at the plate, raising her batting average to .371. Catanzarita stayed hot as she put together a two-for-four day. Manto went two-for-three to bring her batting average up to .312. Manto also added two runs scored and a pair of RBIs.
Hofstra is one win away from sweeping the Cougars on enemy turf. A win on Saturday, May 4, would have made it back-to-back CAA series sweeps and extended the Pride’s win streak to seven games. The first pitch of game three was set for noon.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Antonio Giammarino Jr.
