Mount Pleasant, S.C. – The College of Charleston continued its rise up the Colonial Athletic Association standings with a 4-1 win over Hofstra to complete a three-game sweep at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (31-19, 11-7 CAA) climbed ahead of the Pride (23-20, 9-7) for second place and trail only James Madison in the conference standings. CofC has made its move on the strength of eight wins in its last nine CAA games and victories in 11 of its past 13 overall.
The win was also the 700th in the 25-year history of the Cougar softball program. Following the game, the Cougars honored their five graduating seniors – Dana Horgan, Kashmir Huckaby, Sam Martin, Katie Padilla and Sydney Shipley – who were playing their final contest at Patriots Point.
CofC will look to nail down the second seed in the CAA Tournament when the Cougars travel to Towson to finish the regular season Friday and Saturday. The top five teams then head to Harrisonburg, Va., for the tournament, which takes place May 10-12.
Just as they did in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, the Cougars jumped out to an early lead and let their pitching and defense do the rest. After spotting the Pride a run in the top of the first, CofC took advantage of wildness by Hofstra starter Sarah Cornell to score four times in the bottom of the inning.
Taylor DuPree led off with a bunt single before two walks loaded the bases with one out. A wild pitch and error scored the first two runs, giving the Cougars the lead for good, and Huckaby walked to force in a run. Yari Felix capped the inning with a chopper over the pitcher's head for a single, making it a three-run lead.
DuPree finished with three hits and improved her batting average to .396 while Felix had two hits.
Shipley started and allowed five hits while working into the fourth. Hofstra stranded two in the second, and the Cougars turned a double play in the third to prevent potential Pride threats. After a leadoff double in the fourth, Martin came in to pitch and escaped a bases loaded, nobody out jam including an unusual double play.
Kristin Hallam hit a grounder to short, and Kelly Sinclair threw to DuPree for the force at third. DuPree then fired home and Huckaby applied the tag on Sam Tomasetti to keep Hofstra off the board. Martin worked a scoreless fifth and earned the win, improving to 7-5 on the year.
Izzy Berouty went the final two frames and induced the third double play of the game for the Cougars after the Pride put its first two runners on base in the seventh. Berouty allowed one hit in picking up the fourth save of her freshman season.
