FAIRFAX, VA – Following a 10-7 win over the University at Buffalo earlier in the day, the Hofstra softball team fell to the Cornell University Big Red 6-3 at the George Mason Invitational on Saturday, March 7.
The loss was the Pride’s eighth of their last nine games, and they now drop to 3-13 on the season.
Cornell jumped all over Hofstra starting pitcher Nikki Mullin with six runs through the first three innings as her struggles continued for the Pride. Over her last 22 and one-third innings pitched, Mullin owns a 7.52 earned run average and a 0-4 record. However, Madison Burns was strong in relief and fired two scoreless innings.
Hofstra’s bats could not replicate their 10-run performance against Buffalo earlier in the day, as Cornell’s starting pitcher Gabrielle Maday stifled the Pride. Maday was hurt by her defense with two unearned runs, but worked around the errors and pitched a complete game, allowing only one earned run with two strikeouts.
The Pride tried to rally back from an early 6-0 deficit and scored in three consecutive innings, but ultimately their push fell three runs short. In the third, Cornell committed two throwing errors that allowed Chelsea Manto to score Hofstra’s first run. In the following inning, another mistake by the Big Red defense cost them another run as Manto singled up the middle to drive in Madison McKevitt.
Alexis Goeke added an RBI single in the fifth, but that was all the Pride could score before they got shut down 1-2-3 in the seventh inning by Maday.
Failing to capitalize on scoring chances was a common theme for Hofstra, as they put eight runners in scoring position but only brought home three.
For Cornell, Bridgette Rooney and Emily McKinney each recorded three hits in the game and drove in four combined runs. Manto and Meghan Giordano were the only Hofstra batters to get multiple hits, as both went 2-3.
The Pride will conclude the George Mason Invitational with a match against George Mason University on Sunday, March 8, at 2:15 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
