BOCA RATON, FL – The Hofstra softball team fell to the University of North Florida Ospreys on Sunday, Feb. 23, by a score of 8-6. The loss brought the Pride’s season record to 2-6, as they went 1-2 in the FAU Strike Out Cancer Tournament at FAU Softball Stadium.
A barrage of offense from the Ospreys in the sixth inning gave them the lead. They brought in five runs in the inning to make the score 8-4, four of which were unearned after Shannon Glover reached third base on a fielding error.
The Pride was on the verge of putting a comeback together in the seventh inning as Jordan Pietrzykoski brought in a run from Amanda Maffucci with a double before reaching home plate herself off of a Madison McKevitt single. Alex Musial pinch hit for Chelsea Manto with two outs, but she was struck out by North Florida pitcher Morgan Clausen to end the game.
Lindsey Hay went deep for a three-run homer that gave the Pride a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning. She brought Jaycee Ruberti and Meghan Giordano in for runs with the long ball.
Hay’s home run was the first of her career, and garnered her a game-high three RBIs. McKevitt finished with a game-high three hits and tallied two RBIs, and Pietrzykoski batted-in another for the Pride.
For the Ospreys, six different players tallied hits, and another six batted-in runs. Shannon Glover was the only player to reach home multiple times, earning three runs. Glover was one of two Ospreys to send a ball out of the park, as she and Rebecca Koskey both had one-run homers.
The Pride struck first, as Alexis Goeke moved Angelina Ioppolo up to third base by stealing second, setting up McKevitt to bring her home with a single up the middle in the second inning.
North Florida’s Paige Pfent broke the 1-1 tie in the fourth inning when she batted in Glover and Taylor Engman with a single. That 3-1 lead was immediately answered by Hay’s homer that gave Hofstra the advantage.
After Koskey’s home run in the sixth that tied the game, Nikki Mullin took Madison Burns’ spot on the mound to close out the game. Burns struck out two batters and allowed just four hits in 19 at-bats, while the freshman Mullin gave up three in the sixth inning alone.
The team will return to action in the Liberty Spring Classic in Lynchburg, Virginia beginning on Friday, Feb. 28, against the Yale University Bulldogs.
