By Amanda Guerriero
Courtney Oliver pitched her way into a few too many unpleasant predicaments but came out practically unscathed. She faced two bases loaded situations in the top of the third and finished the inning after Stony Brook had recorded two runs. Amazingly though, Oliver didn’t let up a hit in the inning.
Hofstra faced local rival Stony Brook University on Tuesday at Hofstra Softball Stadium, having just returned from a tiring threegame series with UNC Wilmington. However, the Pride somehow pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Seawolves.
“Anytime you play a team like Stony Brook or Long Island University, it is going to be looked at as a local rivalry,” head coach Bill Edwards said.
The top of the third inning started with Oliver hitting Stony Brook’s Laura Bradford, followed by an error from 2B Lisa Wambold. With two runners on, Oliver walked Ashley Westphal to load the bases. After striking out the next batter and giving up a run on a sacrifice fly, Oliver threw a wild pitch that slid past catcher Carolann Lubach. Molly Kestranek hit a slow roller to Pride shortstop Laura Sweeney, who could not get the out at first. With the bases loaded once again, Oliver forced a groundout to end the inning and avoided further damage.
The Seawolves ended the inning with two runs, but still failedto record a hit. After watching the home run derby that took place this weekend between Hofstra and UNCW, one would think the Pride had some trouble on the hitting end as well. However, itultimately ended the game with five hits and four runs.
“We hit a lot in practice. We hit our heads off in practice,” senior 3B Tara Ulrich said.
It didn’t take long for Oliver to make up for her wild pitch, as she led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run that bounced off the top of the right-center field wall.
The Pride had taken the early lead by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Hofstra led off the game with two singles and a sacrifice bunt. Ulrich hit a two run double, but that was about all the damage she mustered. Many of the Hofstra hitters were making contact with the ball, but failed to make much noise. Even though the fans are used to seeing high scoring, hit-filled games, the Pride may be finding its own hitting niche, allowing the team to win games with a better-rounded approach.
“Usually, in the beginning of the season a lot of people struggle here and there,” Ulrich said. “When we start coming back here and playing every week and every day, it becomes a little easier for us.”
Aside from a few shaky pitching instances, the Pride looked solid on defense and confi dent at the plate. Hofstra is going to need all the consistency it can get when it takes on one of its toughest opponents in the conference this weekend in Towson. Lucky forHofstra, it gets to host Towson in the three-game series, the Pride’s second of the season. “I think we have a very strong conference, so Towson will not be our only tough competition,” Edwards said. Towson is 1-2 in the conference, whereas Hofstra stands at 2-1.
“Towson is probably our biggest rival in the conference, and hitting will be very important,” Ulrich added. “We are very glad to be playing them here.”
Hofstra will play a doubleheader beginning Saturday at noon and then will play Towson in the finale on Sunday.