The Stony Brook softball team struggled through their three-game homestand this week, splitting a doubleheader with the Hofstra Pride on Tuesday and dropping a grudge match with the Fordham Rams on Thursday. Their bats — aside from a walk-off single by junior first baseman Lindsey Osmer that closed out the Hofstra series — did little to compensate for unspectacular pitching, hitting a combined .203.
The Seawolves’ offense has gone dormant at seemingly random times all season long, but Tuesday’s 4-1 loss against Hofstra was their most concerning blackout yet. After senior shortstop Nicole McCarvill plated graduate first baseman Melissa Rahrich with a double in the first inning, Stony Brook produced one hit the rest of the way against junior pitcher Madison Burns, who entered the game with a 3.20 ERA.
Senior pitcher Dawn Bodrug was merely average, which for her equated to a season-worst outing. She failed to reach ten strikeouts in a complete-game start for the first time this year, and allowed three runs on six hits. That included a third inning double by junior center fielder Jaycee Ruberti that put Stony Brook behind 2-1.
The Seawolves trudged through five more scoreless innings to begin the nightcap, but Osmer’s highlight reel day — two hits and three RBIs — carried them to a 4-3 win in eight innings.
Facing a 3-0 deficit with runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth, Osmer hit a line drive past second base to score McCarvill and sophomore infielder Emma Campbell. She advanced to third on a ground out and sprinted home on freshman outfielder Julianna Sanzone’s single to score the tying run.
Tied up at 3-3 in the eighth inning, Osmer came up to bat with Rahrich on second. On a full count, she launched another line drive down the middle with just enough power to evade graduate shortstop Kristin Hallam’s glove and plate Rahrich for the win.
“With the way it came off the bat, it came off solid,” Osmer said in a press release. “I was really excited. I saw the way it had that bounce and I knew the shortstop couldn’t handle it. She ended up bobbling it. And I waited for Mel to score. And it was absolute excitement.”
Thursday’s 5-2 loss to Fordham was not quite as heartbreaking as last week’s extra innings loss, but squandered the best outing of junior pitcher Shelbi Denman’s season. Denman, who was pulled from last week’s game after allowing four runs in the first inning, held the Rams to one hit over four innings.
Rahrich entered in the fifth inning with a 2-1 lead, which evaporated two outs later with Rams’ redshirt-junior first baseman Rachel Hubertus’ RBI single. Hubertus returned in the seventh with a two-run homer that sealed the game.
Graduate catcher Jordyn Nowakowski produced Stony Brook’s only runs by scoring Osmer with a home run in the second inning, but just two more hits followed.
With this weekend’s series against UMass Lowell postponed, the Seawolves will travel to South Orange, New Jersey to take on the Seton Hall Pirates on April 14.
