By John Napolitano -- STAFF WRITER The Hofstra Pride softball team dropped its first two games at the Unconquered Invitational, losing to the University of Alabama at Birmingham by a 12-4 score, and falling to Florida State 8-0 in Tallahassee on Friday.
Sophomore Brittany Allocca led the way for Hofstra offensively with a two-run home run to center field in the bottom of the first inning, her third homer on the season. Allocca later scored on a wild pitch, and Michaela Transue plated a run on an RBI single up the middle in the fourth inning. The Pride’s bats then fell silent.
UAB scored eight runs in the first frame, all with two outs tallied. The Blazers took advantage of four walks and an error and strolled into the bottom of the first with seven of their eight runs unearned. Hofstra’s freshman hurler Madison Grimm fell to 3-2 on the season.
Hofstra hung around JoAnne Graf Field to take on 13th ranked Florida State University. The star of the game was redshirt junior Jessica Burroughs, who recorded a one-hit shutout against the Pride. The big inning for the Seminoles came in the fourth, when Florida State added six runs off of three home runs. Alex Powers, Jessica Warren, and Ellie Cooper all went yard for the Seminoles. Pride right-hander Jessica Peslak took the loss for Hofstra. Peslak went four innings and struck out two. She fell to 3-4 on the season. The Unconquered Invitational continues into Sunday. Hofstra is 6-6 on the season thus far.