By Jeffrey Werner – STAFF WRITER Hofstra softball capped off a great weekend with a 6-0 win against the UNC-W Seahawks on Sunday to complete the series shutout sweep against their CAA opponents.
The Hofstra Pride completed three straight shutouts versus the Seahawks – games one and three came from senior starting pitcher Morgan Lashley. Sunday's game marked her third-straight shutout and her fifth of the season.
Lashley’s latest performance on the mound featured seven scoreless innings with three hits allowed. She fanned eight Seahawks and let one walk get by on the day. Lashley improved her record to 7-1 and managed to lower her ERA to 1.29.
The Pride saw some great offensive production from three players on Sunday: junior third basemen Kim Smith, junior center fielder Caryn Bailey, and sophomore shortstop Michaela Transue.
Smith was able to get the Pride on the board early when she drove the ball over the left field fence for her first home run of the season. She came up to bat later in the fifth inning with Chloe Fitzgerald on third and Bailey at first. With a full count, Smith lined the ball into left field and drove in Bailey for her second RBI of the game. She managed to put Hofstra up 2-0.
In the sixth inning, it was Caryn Bailey’s turn to contribute to the offense. Bailey came to the plate with bases loaded and smacked one up the middle to drive in Brielle Pietrafesa and Megan Patierno, extending Hofstra’s lead to four runs.
In the seventh inning, it was Michaela Transue’s turn to put two more runs on the scoreboard for the Pride. With runners on first and second base and a 2-0 count, Transue shot the ball into the left centerfield gap for a double and drove in the two runs to give Hofstra an insurmountable 6-0 lead that would become the end result.
Chloe Fitzgerald and Kim Smith finished the day with multiple-hit performances. Fitzgerald went 2-for-4 and scored one run while Smith also batted 2-for-4, scored once and drove in two runs v. the Seahawks.
With this win, Hofstra starts their CAA play at 3-0 while improving their overall season record to 11-7-1. The Pride will play a couple non-conference games at home against Northwestern and Rutgers before resuming CAA play against the Tigers of Towson University.
The next matchup for the Pride features against the Northwestern University Bobcats on March 24. The game is set to start at 3:00 p.m. at the Hofstra Softball Stadium.