After a three-loss weekend in Maine, Stony Brook Softball returned home to beat Iona 7-4 on Tuesday. The Seawolves traveled to Hempstead and lost 6-2 to Hofstra, bringing the team’s record to 10-22.
Game 1: Stony Brook 7 – Iona 4
Despite losing four of their last five, Tuesday’s win was one to feel good about for Stony Brook. Sophomore pitcher Lindsey Hughes pitched a complete game and Seawolves batters totaled 10 hits, including at least one from seven of nine spots in the starting lineup.
The Seawolves took a four-run lead in the second inning and never looked back. The scoring outburst started with a two-run, two-out, bases-loaded single off the bat of junior left fielder Ileana Torres.
Two pitches into the next at-bat, freshman first baseman Melissa Rahrich, who was not on the mound for the first time in five games, knocked in freshman right fielder Jourdin Hering with a base-hit. Torres scored in the next at-bat, when freshman designated hitter Irene Rivera hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, giving Stony Brook a 4-0 lead.
The Gaels scored two in the third off of four hits, but the Seawolves immediately struck back in the bottom of the inning. Freshman third baseman Allyssa Malony doubled for the second time in as many innings, knocking in a run and making the score 5-2.
Rahrich ripped a double in the fourth that knocked the Iona starter, junior lefty Jessica Harkness, out of the game. Torres, who stopped at third after the double, scored the next at-bat on a wild pitch by sophomore reliever Alana Evans. Rahrich later came around to score on a Rivera sacrifice fly to left field.
Hughes retired seven straight batters between the fourth and sixth innings. In the seventh, she ran into some trouble, allowing two runs to score on no outs, but the cushion was enough. She got out of the jam and recorded the final out – a three pitch strike out.
Game 2: Hofstra 6 — Stony Brook 2
On Wednesday, the game at Bill Edwards Stadium began with a scoreless three innings, but the Seawolves were first to strike when they scored in the fourth inning. Malony hit a single to centerfield to knock in the first run of the game.
Hofstra evened the score in the bottom half of the inning with a home run that moved Rahrich from the mound, where she had started the game, over to first base in favor of a relief pitcher. Rahrich walked the bases loaded in the third, only to get out of the jam. The freshman finished with 3.0 innings pitched, three hits, two runs and six walks allowed.
Junior Maddy Neales came in to relieve Rahrich, allowing the Pride to add one more run in the fourth.
All of the additional damage came in the sixth inning. Stony Brook briefly tied it up when Rivera opened the top of the inning with a full-count home run to center field. Then, Hofstra freshman pitcher Sarah Cornell struck out three Seawolves in a row.
Cornell, who struck out nine and pitched a complete game, picked up her 15th win of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth, Neales took five pitches to get two outs. Twenty-five pitches later, the third out had still not been recorded and Neales was out of the game.
Two singles were followed by two walks, the last of which forced in the go-ahead run. Then, a bases-clearing double gave Hofstra a 6-2 lead and Stony Brook head coach Megan T. Bryant was forced to pull Neales for freshman reliever Taylor Pechin. Two pitches later, the inning was over, but the damage had been done.
One Stony Brook baserunner reached on an error in the top of the seventh, but there was no real threat of a rally and Hofstra quickly recorded the final out.
The Seawolves next take the field against UMass Lowell in a two-game series this weekend at home. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.
