After a near-perfect win in game one, the Hofstra Pride softball team failed to complete the series win over the North Carolina A&T University Aggies in doubleheader losses 5-2 and 8-7 on Sunday, April 2, at the A&T Softball Complex.
Both losses stranded Hofstra with a 13-19 overall record and a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) record of 6-3. In the first game of the doubleheader, the Pride sent Nikki Mullin to the mound as the Aggies nodded to Megan Ellis.
With a 1-2-3 first inning for Hofstra, A&T started the scoring early after only getting one hit the day before. Alyxx Estrada walked to start the inning and made her way to third base from a passed ball and stolen base. This set up a double by Dezianna Patmon through the left side, scoring Estrada to take a quick 1-0 lead. The Aggies added another run with a double to left field from Ellis to extend their lead to 2-0. A single by Jai Deese brought home Ellis to end the first inning with A&T holding a 3-0 advantage.
The Pride answered right back in the top half of the third inning with two singles by Gianna Iaquinto and Chelsea Manto, putting runners at the corners and threatening to cut into the deficit. An error carried out by third basemen Patmon added a run to the board for the Pride, making the score 3-1. A Kasey Collins sacrifice fly put Hofstra within one, 3-2 at the end of the third inning.
But that was all the offense the Pride offered in the first game as the Aggies continued their dominance in the bottom half of the third with a Kayla Taylor solo shot to right field to extend to a 4-2 lead. In the fourth inning, the Aggies tallied a sacrifice fly to put the dagger in the Pride’s heart; A&T’s pitching from there on out halted Hofstra’s offense to allow the Aggies to win the first of the doubleheader 5-2.
Aggies’ Megan Ellis was awarded the win while Hofstra’s Nikki Mullin got the loss, allowing three runs on three hits and one strikeout in 0.1 innings of play.
In the rubber game of this series, the Pride sent out Julia Aspel to go up against Joey Barkhimer of the Aggies. Offense continued to be the name of the game for the Aggies, while the bats started to wake up for the Pride.
After six and a half innings of play, Hofstra led over the Aggies with a 7-3 advantage, trying to keep A&T’s bats quiet. But in the bottom half of the sixth inning, Estrada provided another run with a single cutting the lead to 7-4. Then, with runners in scoring position, Deese knocked another single into left field scoring two to inch closer bringing the score to 7-6. With Aspel trying to close out with a complete game, she let up a single to Sierra Baldwin to blow a once four-run lead to a 7-7 tie game. Then, an error by Aspel made room for Jocelyn Bennett to score and walk it off for the Aggies with the series win over the Pride 8-7.
Even though the offense contributed with seven runs on eight hits in the game, the pitching could not get the job done with Aspel on the mound the entire game. The loss was awarded to her for allowing eight runs on nine hits and six strikeouts in her poor performance for Hofstra.
Meghan Giordano continued her dominance going 2-3 with three RBIs and being one of the main contributors in the Hofstra lineup.
Looking for a win, the Pride will continue their road trip to the Bronx to go up against the Fordham University Rams in a one-game set on Wednesday, April 5, with the first pitch set for 3 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
