The Temple Owls played well in the NJ Pride College Tournament, but fell late against both Hofstra and Lafayette on Sunday.
In the first game of the day, against the Hofstra Pride, Temple led 4-0 at one point and was still leading by one run going into the seventh inning. But Hofstra rallied and defeated the Owls 5-4.
“We should have beat them,” Coach Joe DiPietro said.
Late inning woes continued for the Owls in the second game. Temple led the Lafayette Leopards 3-1, but then gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh to lose 4-3.
“[The day] should have turned out a lot better than it did,” DiPietro said. “We have to be able to close out teams, and today for some reason we just didn’t do it.”
“Defensively we were very good,” DiPietro said. “[Offensively], Sarah Prezioso had a great day. She had two home runs, one in each game. She had four hits on the day. So she played well. She really did.”
DiPietro was also impressed with junior outfielder Lacey McKeon.
“[She] had a great day,” DiPietro said. “She was on base a lot. I believe she had four hits on the day. So offensively there were some, I guess, bright spots. We just didn’t close out the games. And we left a lot of runners in scoring position, which is good and bad, I guess. It’s good that at least we’re getting them on; but again, we have to be able to score those runs.”
But it was the pitching, not the hitting, that was the main problem in the two games, according to DiPietro. The Owls pitchers performed competently throughout most of the game, but made some costly pitches and allowed both Hofstra and Lafayette to put up big innings late in the games.
“Kelsey Dominik pitched the first game against Hoftra,” DiPietro said. “She was pitching okay, and we’d got her a four run lead, and she threw pitches down the middle that didn’t break like they were supposed to, and they hit two solo home runs to make it 4-3. And then we put [Brooklin] White in, one of our seniors. She pitched a great sixth inning, but she didn’t pitch a great seventh inning.”
The Owls have two more fall practice games left. They will play a doubleheader against the Delaware Blue Hens, starting at noon on Sunday, October 13th, at Temple’s Ambler campus.
Don McDermott can be reached at donald.mcdermott@temple.edu.
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