Angelina Ioppolo was the hero for the Hofstra University softball team as her two-out double in the bottom of the seventh inning put Kasey Collins and Chelsea Manto across home plate to walk it off against the Towson University Tigers and win the 2023 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship on Saturday, May 13. The team’s overall record now stands at 29-25 following their three wins in the last two days of the tournament, punching their ticket to the NCAA softball tournament.
“It was phenomenal,” said Hofstra head coach Adrienne Clark. “It was everything I imagined it was going to be and more.”
Saturday turned out to be a doubleheader as Towson had been undefeated going into Saturday; Hofstra had to beat them twice pursuant to double elimination rules. It was all or nothing from the first pitch thrown at noon.
The first game was tight all the way until the top of the seventh inning when Meghan Giordano hit a three-run blast over the left field wall.
“Honestly, I was just trying to keep things real simple,” Giordano said. “Running home, seeing my teammates there, it was the greatest thing in the world.”
In the bottom of the seventh inning in game two, Brianna Morse pinch hit for Madison McKevitt, a gambit that paid off when she doubled to left center field. Olivia Malinowski pinch hit for Kayla Wilson, who was issued a walk to make way for Collin to single. Enter Manto to the dish with bases loaded.
Manto swung at the first pitch she saw, but the Towson fielder sent it to home plate to throw out McKevitt in time. The exact same play rinsed and repeated itself when Giordano was at bat, getting Wilson thrown out at the plate but reaching on a fielder’s choice herself.
Ioppolo’s base hit was just far enough away from the shortstop and the outfielders, causing everyone to scramble to get the ball, and by the time they did, two runners crossed home plate to walk it off.
“Honestly, I don’t know that there was ever a doubt that we weren’t going to figure out a way to get it done,” Clark said. “All year, it has taken every single one of [the athletes] to string things together. Relying on one person is not how we have success. We have success when everybody contributes, and we talked about that before the game, and we said we don’t need anybody to be the hero. We just need everybody to get their job done.”
Julia Apsel was given two wins today, the first after pitching 6.1 innings in the first game and the second to close out the last four outs of the championship game in relief of Nikki Mullin and Annabella Pisapia. Her overall record stands at 10-8 following the tournament.
“We have relied on our entire pitching staff,” Clark credited. “It took an entire pitching staff to get it done, and we did.”
Overall, it’s safe to say that Clark has faith in her team.
“I think when you invest in people, as people and as humans, I think it makes it a lot easier to develop those relationships and figure out what makes each one of them individually tick, because they’re all very different,” Clark explained. “I think when you spend the time to invest in people, good things happen.”
This marked the first conference championship win since 2018, making this win monumental for the fifth-year athletes.
“Ever since I stepped foot on this campus my freshman year, this is everything that I’ve ever wanted,” said Giordano, a senior and winner of the Most Outstanding Player of the CAA Championship award. “I couldn’t do anything without my teammates or my coaches. It really just shows how every single one of my teammates has our backs from how we play together.”
Aliya Catanzarita, the designated player for both games, received All-CAA Team accolades following the win.
“It means the absolute world,” Catanzarita said. “But at the same time, I’m here leaning on my teammates because they really help me.”
The team will find out who they play in the NCAA Championship in the Selection Show on Sunday, May 14, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Photo courtesy of Alexis Friedman/CAA
