EAST GREENSBORO – The Hofstra Pride's pitching performance was too much for North Carolina A&T on Saturday as the Pride defeated A&T in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) softball play, 8-0 at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex. 

The Aggies lost their seventh straight and dropped to 6-23 overall and 1-6 in the CAA. The Pride has won four of five, improving to 13-17 overall and 6-1 in league play. Pride starter Haley Venturini (W, 5-5) no-hit the Aggies until the seventh inning with two outs as Dezianna Patmon broke up the no-hitter with a single to right field. 

Amaya Kearse (L, 1-4) pitched the first 2.1 innings for A&T, giving up five runs on five hits, before right-hander Joey Barkhimer entered the game and pitched the final 4.2 innings, giving up two earned runs to the Pride while striking out two. 

The biggest hit off Kearse came in the third inning when Meghan Giordano hit a grand slam home run to drive in the game's first four runs. Later in the inning, with Barkhimer in the game and the bases loaded, Angelina Ioppolo scored on a fielder's choice to give the Pride a 5-0 lead. 

Brianna Morse added an RBI single in the sixth, and Giordano added a two-run RBI double in the seventh to close out the scoring for Hofstra. Giordano drove in six runs on Saturday, and Ioppolo had a three-hit performance. 

The two teams will play a noon doubleheader at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex on Sunday to close out the series.