The Hofstra University softball team dropped the series-opener against the Stony Brook University Seawolves 2-3 on Friday, April 12. With this loss, the Pride fell to 13-19 overall and 11-5 in the Coastal Athletic Association. The Seawolves improved to 22-19 overall and 10-6 in the CAA, just one game behind Hofstra in the standings.
The Pride had the bases loaded twice in the bottom of the first inning but only managed to cash in once. With nobody out and the bases juiced, Chelsea Villar grounded into a fielder’s choice by the third baseman as Becca Vaillancourt came around to score.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Hofstra put one insurance run on the board. Gabriella Sultan pinch-hit for Mackenzie Fitzgerald, and she reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Lily Yepez from third to give the Pride a 2-0 lead.
It was all Hofstra until the seventh inning. With a runner on first and one out for Stony Brook, Nicole Cancel’s costly error put the Pride’s chances of victory in jeopardy. Cancel attempted to tag the runner in front of her on a ground ball and then throw the batter out at first, but she missed the tag and didn’t get it to the other runner, setting up first and second with one out.
Stony Brook’s Kyra McFarland laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners over, setting up the runners on second and third with Catherine Anne Kupinski next at the dish. Kupinski singled to right field, scoring both runners to knot the game up at 2. Two pitches later, Corinne Badger laced an RBI double down the first base line to give Stony Brook a 3-2 lead.
“Defensively, I think [we need] a little more communication and competitiveness,” said Hofstra head coach Adrienne Clark. “I think at times we were a little bit flat, and anytime that happens and you get a momentum shift, it totally changes the game. So I’m hopeful that we’ll come out and compete from start to finish and stay in control when we only have a little bit.”
Even in a loss that went down to the wire, there are still positives to take away from the game.
“I liked how in some of our at-bats, we made adjustments and competed hard,” Clark said. “The walks that we drew, I thought, were momentum changing as well. I think we left some runners on base, but I do think there are a lot of things to be able to take away.”
The Pride’s defense, along with lights-out pitching from their ace Julia Apsel, kept them in the game even though the offense struggled to put runs on the board. Fitzgerald made two plays at the hot corner – one a diving grab on a line drive and the other a line drive as she shaded to her left. In the top of the sixth inning, Hofstra got out of a jam with runners on first and second base with one out, due to a 1-5-3 double play to end the inning.
“That’s our defense, though,” Clark said. “That’s what has defined us. We’ve been able to make those clutch plays and that moment was no different. [Fitzgerald] knew exactly what to do. [Apsel] knew exactly what to do, and we had talked about it during the timeout of, hey, we have an opportunity to turn two here in a bunch of different ways, so be ready to execute.”
Apsel notched complete game number 10 on the season, as she struck out seven Seawolves and allowed three runs and one earned on seven hits, two walks and one hit by pitch. Due to the loss, her record worsened to 12-6.
“We always get more opportunities, and [we] know that it’s less about the loss and more about what we can learn from it moving into the next day,” Clark said. “We know what it takes, and we know what we need to do. We’re learning about ourselves as a team, and I think that as long as we keep focusing on that piece, we’re going to be alright.”
The Pride went back into action on Saturday, April 13, for game two of this three-game series against Stony Brook.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Rob Cuni
