HARRISONBURG, Va. – Behind a 12-hit effort at the plate and one earned run allowed by Alexa Nemeth, the Elon University softball continued its stay at the Colonial Athletic Association Softball Championships with its 11-3 victory over Hofstra on Wednesday evening, May 12, at Veterans Memorial Park.
The third-seeded Phoenix (18-20) responded from its opening-round loss earlier in the day to No. 2 seed Drexel to advance to the second day of the tournament. Hofstra ends its season at 16-16 with its third straight loss of its series against the Phoenix.
At the Plate
Elon recorded 12 hits in the contest with eight of its nine players in the lineup recording at least a base hit. Megan Grant (2-for-3), Rebecca Murray (2-for-4) and Bella Devesa (2-for-3) had multi-hit efforts for Elon while Ally Repko drove in three RBI. Murray also had a pair of runs driven in as did Claudia Penny, who had the lone home run of the contest.
In the Circle
Nemeth gave up one earned up in her 6.0 innings of work. The graduate student allowed four hits and struck out two to improve to 7-4 on the season.
The Rundown
A couple of errors in the top of the first led to the Pride plating a pair of runs. Hofstra’s Chelsea Manto reached on a throwing error and advanced to second on the play and would be joined on the bases by Jaycee Ruberti. Both players crossed the dish on the Phoenix’s second error of the inning on a fielder’s choice by Meghan Giordano, giving Hofstra a 2-0 lead.
Elon came back with a four-run bottom of the third to take the lead. Mekayla Frazier drove a double down the left field line to score Grant, who opened the frame earlier on a walk. Frazier herself later tied the game on an RBI from Repko to knot the game at two-all. Repko advanced to second on a Gabi Schaal single then later scored on Carley Davis’s RBI bloop single to left. Schaal herself crossed the dish while Davis was caught in a rundown between first and second before the end of the inning.
The Phoenix added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth. A wild pitch to Frazier allowed Drew Menscer to score from third with one out. Menscer had reached earlier in the inning on a walk and advanced to third on a single to right center by Grant. The wild pitch advanced both Frazier and Grant into scoring position, which the Phoenix took advantage of off Murray’s two-RBI single up the middle, pushing Elon’s lead to 7-2.
Hofstra got a run back in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly, but the Phoenix came back with some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Repko drove a two-out RBI single into left field, scoring Grant and Frazier before Penny came to the plate with two outs. The sophomore took a 3-1 pitch to right field for her first homer of the season, with the two-run shot giving the Phoenix the 11-3 win.
On Deck
The Phoenix will continue to stave off elimination tomorrow, facing No. 4 seed Delaware at 2 p.m.