The Hofstra softball team earned their first win of the season, splitting a double-header on Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, CA.
The Pride defeated the Bulldogs of Drake University in their first game but later fell to the Stanford University Cardinal.
Drake struck early, as Libby Ryan hit a triple followed by a homer from Sarah Maddox for a 2-0 lead. The Pride did not mount much offense, until the fourth inning when Lindsey Hay hit a double with a runner on first, setting up Angelina Ioppolo to bat-in a run from Amanda Maffucci. Hay then scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 2-2.
A successful fifth inning made the difference for the Pride. Hofstra tallied four hits in the frame, including a double from Jordan Pietrzykoski, and brought in three runs to take a 5-3 lead.
Hofstra outhit the Bulldogs 8-5. Kasey Collins and Hay were the only players to finish with two hits, and both batted in runs for the Pride. Hofstra’s five runs came from Collins, Maffucci, Hay, Pietrzykoski and Madison McKevitt. Runs were batted in by Collins, Hay, Ioppolo and Meghan Giordano.
Nikki Mullin pitched for the game’s entirety, earning her first win on the mound. She struck out one batter and gave up just five hits against 27 batters. She didn’t allow a single hit in the final two innings, preserving the Pride’s two-run lead.
For the Bulldogs, four players earned extra-base hits compared to just three from the Pride. Mandi Roemmich and Hannah Pals doubled, while Ryan batted a triple and Maddox hit a homer.
Later in the day, Hofstra struggled against Stanford, dropping a hard-fought battle. A first inning-home run by the Cardinal’s Kaitlyn Lim was the only run scored in the 1-0 victory for Stanford.
Maddy Dwyer made the difference for the Cardinal from the mound, as she struck out six batters and allowed just three hits. Hofstra’s Madison Burns gave up five, but earned two strikeouts of her own, and the Cardinal was out on ground balls 13 times.
Collins, Jaycee Ruberti and Alexa Corben notched the Pride’s three hits. The Pride’s best chance to score was at the top of the fourth, when Ruberti opened up the inning with a single. A fly-out from Giordano was followed by a groundout into a double play, and the Pride earned just one more hit in the sixth inning.
The Pride finished the second day of the season-opening invitational with a 1-3 record. The team’s final match will be against Drake University, on Sunday, Feb. 16.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
