Re: Hofstra softball 2026

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Sat Feb 14, 2026 6:44 am

We started our season yesterday down south against Louisiana Monroe with new head coach Susan Cassidy-Lyke and jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind a three run home run from catcher Gemma D'Orazio. LM got a run on an error and then answered with 4 more winning 6-3. Emma Falon took the loss going 4.1 and had 3 K's. Emma Brennan and Jillian Locher also pitched in the game in relief.

In the second game against Florida Gulf Coast we pitched freshman Madison Steppe who threw 147 pitches only to lose the game in extra innings on a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dahlia Palacio, Victoria Frobosilo and Alanna Morse all had RBI hits in this game.
https://gohofstra.com/news/2026/2/14/so ... myers.aspx

stuball888 · Post by **stuball888** » Sat Feb 14, 2026 10:39 am

Not a bad start
These are middle of the road southern teams that already have several games under their belt
These were our first two games of the season
The fact that they were in blowouts and are pitching for the most part held up bodes well for us
We will get better as the season progresses

Polito · Post by **Polito** » Wed Feb 18, 2026 7:17 pm

Great to see softball kicking off again - we are late to the game, should've been playing already.

Decent start - but softball needs a big year. HU athletics needs softball to have a big year lol. Pulling for these ladies!

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:27 am

So for those who follow the softball team we played in the Lakeside BOOK COMPANY Invitational in Virginia competing against Buffalo and our old foes James Madison. On Friday we lose the first game to Buffalo 7-6 Emma Falen takes the loss and she''s now 0-4. Alanna Morse hits her first home run. On Saturday we rebound and win both games. We beat Buffalo 8-5 D'Orazio and Nicole Cancel both homer in that game and freshman pitcher Steppe although walking 6 and giving up 5 runs has 10 K's. A weird outing for her. In the second game we win 3-2 behind a complete game from Emma Falen who gets her first win. Also Gabby Sultan hits her first Home run of the season our DP who has been crushing the ball so far this year. We're 3-8 after these two wins Madison 7-7.

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:45 am

Yesterday we concluded play and lose to Buffalo 11-9. Falen gets the loss charged with 4 runs only 2 earned as we made crucial errors in this game. We continue to hit home runs as Sultan goes deep again and also Fitzgerald and Cancel. We're 3-9 and Buffalo 6-14. Our next games are supposed to be at home against SB this week but honestly with our field ripped up and the weather IDK how this will happen??

Polito · Post by **Polito** » Mon Mar 02, 2026 4:57 pm

Eh, not a good showing against a team that plays in more winter than we do lol - not at all impressed. Where's the pitching? Miss the HU softball of old. Pretty much the mantra across all HU athletics...

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Tue Mar 03, 2026 8:26 am

Polito wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2026 4:57 pm Eh, not a good showing against a team that plays in more winter than we do lol - not at all impressed. Where's the pitching? Miss the HU softball of old. Pretty much the mantra across all HU athletics...

Polito this team is a work in progress we really only have two starting pitchers returning and only one who has pitched a lot of innings. We lost Carly Ernst freshman phenom to one of the Florida schools and the year before lost our phenom pitcher Julia Apsel to Florida State. It's not only basketball that's being effected by NIL. Pitching is the question right now on this team and the coach is bringing them along getting them ready I would imagine for CAA play. We have a lot of pitchers but not all have seen game action. Our hitting seems to be OK and I think we will score runs.

What hasn't happened to this program in a while is players being shifted to other positions that we saw this past week. The new coach put our third basemen who has played every game at third on first. She's used the catcher D'orazio at second base and I believe switched Cancel from 2nd to third. Our freshman catcher Ryleigh Smith then was able to get some playing time behind the plate. All interesting moves something that really hadn't happened in the past that much. A work in progress!!

CTDutch · Post by **CTDutch** » Tue Mar 03, 2026 8:32 am

triplec2195 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:45 am Yesterday we concluded play and lose to Buffalo 11-9. Falen gets the loss charged with 4 runs only 2 earned as we made crucial errors in this game. We continue to hit home runs as Sultan goes deep again and also Fitzgerald and Cancel. We're 3-9 and Buffalo 6-14. Our next games are supposed to be at home against SB this week but honestly with our field ripped up and the weather IDK how this will happen??

Stony Brook series has been moved to SB. We play two 3 game series against them; the next series has been moved to Hofstra,

Polito · Post by **Polito** » Tue Mar 03, 2026 9:59 am

Fair enough on the work in progress at this early point of the season, but to be frank, the program has been a 'work in progress' since Edwards departed. When do we see some finished product? These decade plus long works in progress are a little much. And it's not like they're playing murderers row, the schedule is very meh.

And I would also argue it's not just NIL's 'fault', HU has the same ability to provide NIL that others do, it's just that others do it much better. That's not on NIL, it's on HU. Plenty of mid major programs in a variety of sports find ways to stay competitive and nationally relevant. It's just going to take better from HU. We can't keep complaining about the changes to sports, it's not going to make it better, we have to adapt.

I think by now I'd like to see some stability in this program - another first year coach, and now we've got odd player position changes all over the field as they find their way - it's just annoying - don't want to see this program fall like lax.

Maybe HU should take some of the insane 80k a year to attend and put it towards the AD - or perhaps do a better job with student fees to improve coaching salaries. Or get someone who knows how to actually fundraise properly. There are lots of fixes, it just takes leaders who know what the hell they're doing.

I'm ranting again, but bottom line for softball is let's see this program be a power mid major again winning the CAA and making the NCAAT.

Post by **Jojogunne** » Tue Mar 03, 2026 11:51 am

Whoa ... no honeymoon for the new coach?

stuball888 · Post by **stuball888** » Tue Mar 03, 2026 1:58 pm

Give Susan some time
She has a track record of winning
It will happen this year and the team will get better as the season progresses

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Tue Mar 03, 2026 3:43 pm

Yeah feel like her moves can only strengthen this team and its a team that will score runs I believe. But do we have enough quality pitching that's the real question.

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Wed Mar 04, 2026 11:49 am

CTDutch wrote: ↑Tue Mar 03, 2026 8:32 am
triplec2195 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:45 am Yesterday we concluded play and lose to Buffalo 11-9. Falen gets the loss charged with 4 runs only 2 earned as we made crucial errors in this game. We continue to hit home runs as Sultan goes deep again and also Fitzgerald and Cancel. We're 3-9 and Buffalo 6-14. Our next games are supposed to be at home against SB this week but honestly with our field ripped up and the weather IDK how this will happen??
Stony Brook series has been moved to SB. We play two 3 game series against them; the next series has been moved to Hofstra,

Just saw this post saying the games against S.B. will be played at Farmingdale State . https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=16 ... 2888738076

Polito · Post by **Polito** » Wed Mar 04, 2026 6:44 pm

Oh, no, don't get me wrong Jojo, my post isn't about the new coach - I know it's her year 1 - it's more about the program overall - too much up and down over the years, it's time to settle this thing and ensure it's at the top of the CAA where it belongs.

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Sun Mar 08, 2026 6:54 am

So we have two games against S.B. IN THE books our first two CAA games and our pitching has been good. Madison Steppe the freshman pitches a complete game getting the win giving up 4 hits 1 unearned run and striking out 7. Morse drives in both runs and goes 2-4. Sultan goes 2-3, D'Orazio 2-3, Cancel 2-3 and Yepez 2-3. So with 11 hits we only plate 2 runs not very productive!

Yesterdays game Falen was on the hill and gives up 3 hits and 1 run striking out 7. We get 2 runs both unearned on a single by Fitzgerald in the 5th inning and only manage 4 hits. Morse gets 2 of our 4 hits and is now hitting .373 on the season. Falen gets her 2nd win and is now 2-5 with a .363 ERA. Final game today at 4 at Farmingdale State.

stuball888 · Post by **stuball888** » Fri Mar 13, 2026 8:55 pm

bumped to the top so our softball team moves to 4-0 in conference and 8-11 overall with a 6-2 win over Monmouth.

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Sat Mar 14, 2026 7:30 am

Madison Steppe freshman is really pitching well brought her ERA down to 4.03 which is a big drop from what it was. She pitched another complete game giving up 5 hits and 2 runs with 3k's. Nicole Cancel hits another home run and now leads the team with 3. She's hitting .310. This is remarkable since Nicole had trouble staying in the lineup 2 years ago hitting around .200 with no home runs for the year. An incredible turn around for her now 3rd in batting average led by Morse who's hitting .365. Dahlia Palacio also homered in this game.

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Sun Mar 15, 2026 8:16 am

We beat Monmouth again yesterday and bring out the brooms today. 9-1 the final score with Emma Falen giving up 7 hits and 1 runs with 3K's. We get 11 hits Villar goes 3-4 with 3 RBI's backup catcher Ryleigh Smith(freshman) goes 2-2 with 3 RBI's and two Home runs. Lily Yepez 2-3 and an Rbi. We're playing good softball right now and getting good pitching. Lets get the sweep today. We're 5-0 in the CAA right now!

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Sun Mar 15, 2026 7:49 pm

We lose 13-6 today in a game where balls were flying out of the park. They hit 4 Homers and we hit 2. Our three pitchers gave up all earned runs 5 by Haig(freshman) 5 by Steppe who has been pitching well and 3 by Emma Falon. Randomly I ran into the coach at the selection show and she was very transparent we talked a lot about the team. She said they're still looking for a good pitching rotation and said that the games played against Monmouth were not on their field but a much smaller field then our field or theirs so I guess this lent itself to the long ball. It was nice talking to Susan and we both lamented about losing freshman pitcher Carly Ernst who could have really helped us. She feels confident that this team is going to win with good hitting and defense and enough quality pitching.

triplec2195 · Post by **triplec2195** » Tue Mar 17, 2026 4:22 pm

Well we played Yale today and took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th only to give up 3 runs and lose 5-4. That hurts and we also made three errors all infield errors giving up an unearned run in the 6th letting them get closer at 2-4. Emma Falon goes the distance in the loss Yale used 2 pitchers and combined to get 11 K's. In spite of the K's we were poised to win this game. Coach I guess afraid to go to the bullpen in this game??