The Hofstra Pride softball team got out to a slow start in the Mason Invitational, as the team lost its opening game of the weekend 5-1 to the Canisius College Golden Griffins on Friday, March 6, at the George Mason Softball Complex.
Kasey Collins had her third multiple-hit game of the season with two knocks in Friday’s loss. Madison Burns pitched a complete game, surrendering three runs on eight hits and striking out three in the process.
Freshman Jordan Pietrzykoski brought in the only Hofstra run for the afternoon with the Pride’s first triple of the season. Meghan Giordano and Alexa Corben also recorded hits for Hofstra.
The Pride posed a threat early on, with Collins reaching on a one-out single before reaching second on a ground ball that the Griffins were unable to turn two on. However, The Pride was unable to bring Collins home, and Canisius took advantage of it with a two-out single from Hannah Catallo-Stooks followed by a two-run homer from Lauren Castro.
Hofstra missed out on another scoring opportunity in the top of the third, finding two runners in scoring position after back-to-back singles from Jaycee Ruberti and Collins, followed by a double steal. With one out, Pietrzykoski struck out and Alexis Goeke lined out to strand both runners on base as Canisius kept Hofstra off the board, holding on to their two-run lead.
Both teams went down quietly in the fourth inning, but Hofstra would once again begin knocking on the Griffins’ door in the top of the fifth. Ruberti started the action with a one-out walk, moving to second base on a sac bunt from Collins. Pietrzykoski finally came through for the Pride, ripping an RBI triple to right center and cutting the Canisius lead to 2-1. Goeke then reached first via a hit by pitch, putting runners on the corner. Unfortunately, The Pride failed to further capitalize on their rally as Canisius starter Alex Churchill got Madison McKevitt to strike out swinging, preserving the Griffins’ lead.
Burns found herself in trouble in the bottom half of the frame as Canisius loaded the bases with no outs, threatening to blow the game wide open. The sophomore stepped up her game, forcing a pop-up double-play then getting Catallo-Stooks to ground into a force play at second base to escape the inning unscathed.
The Griffins added insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three runs on RBI hits from Shealyn Ollison and Sue Vi to extend their advantage over the Pride to 5-1.
Canisius improves to 6-9 with the win. The Pride drops to 2-12 with two more games in the Mason Invitational set for Saturday, March 7, against University at Buffalo and Cornell University.
