By Tim Robertson
The St. John’s Red Storm became the latest softball team to fall to the mercy of Hofstra on Wednesday, as the Pride beat their Long Island rival 8-0 in five innings to improve to 36-10 and lengthen its winning streak to 11 games.
Sophomore first baseman Michele DePasquale extended her school-record hitting streak in dramatic fashion by hitting her first home run of the season in the fourth inning, her only hit of the game, which upped her hitting streak to 24 games.
With the win, the Pride come a step closer to securing one of the best winning percentages in team history.
The Pride also received votes in all three national polls entering the St. John’s game. Hofstra appeared highest at 30th in the country. The Pride also moved up to 28th in the nation in the RPI rankings.
The Pride scored half of its runs in the first inning, as freshman second baseman Trisha Dreslinski scored on a passed ball, and senior Courtney Oliver, junior Melissa Hodge and junior Carolann Lubach each produced RBIs to lead off the game.
While freshman Sara Michalowski shut down the Red Storm from the circle by allowing two hits and striking out a pair in three innings, the Pride followed with four more runs in the fourth inning.
The Pride loaded the bases with a single by Kris Root and walks to Dreslinski and Michalowski, and Oliver followed with her second RBI of the game, a grounder to short. DePasquale, who entered with one career home run, blasted another to right to bring in three runs.
Michalowski notched her eighth win of the season, and Oliver replaced her in relief to pitch two no-hit innings while striking out two. As a staff, Pride pitching came into the Wednesday game fifth in the country with a 1.09 ERA.
The Pride closed in on yet another CAA regular season title with a three-game sweep over Delaware last weekend, and the team returns home needing just one win to secure the top seed and the right to host the CAA tournament.
Hofstra plays three against George Mason beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday that kicks off at noon, followed by game three on Sunday, which also starts at noon.
In Delaware, the Pride didn’t allow an earned run all weekend and outscored its blue-and-yellow foe 25-2 in three games.
Delaware couldn’t solve Hofstra’s strikeout queen, as Kayleigh Lotti fanned 13 of the 15 batters she faced on Saturday’s first game and seven more on Sunday to give her a season total of 173.
By comparison, however, Lotti strikes out three fewer batters per decision this season than she did in last season when she smashed the single-season strikeout record with 319.
Lotti picked up two of the team’s three wins to improve to 15-5 and 11-1 in the CAA with eight shutouts in those CAA contests. After a foul ball struck her in the dugout in the top of the fifth, Lotti pitched through the fifth, but coach Bill Edwards pulled her to start the bottom of the sixth and replaced her with Joanna Kralowetz.
Lotti left after tossing five perfect innings, and Kralowetz entered. Kralowetz struck out five more, but walked two and gave up the only Blue Hen hit. Delaware scored a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh after the lone Hofstra error loaded the bases, and the only run scored unearned on a walk.
Oliver led the Pride from the plate with a 2-for-3 day with three RBIs and a double. Stefanie Feinstein hit a pinch-hit two-run home run, her second of the season, in the fifth in ning to make it 8-0.
The Pride would add one more to make it 9-0, as they scored eight runs in the fifth to put the mercy rule into play.
With senior Casey Fee taking Saturday off from her normal duties at second base, the Blue Hens got all they could handle from the Dreslinski family in game one.
Big sister Pam, a senior, hit a triple, went 2-for-3, had two RBIs and scored a run.
Her sister Trisha, playing in place of Fee, followed suit with two RBIs of her own, a double and a 1-for-2 showing at the plate with a run scored. Trisha Dreslinski would tack on a pair of hits in four at bats and another RBI in game two.
The Pride pounded out four doubles in game two, led by center fielder Erika Bernstein, who went 4-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored. The Pride won game two 8-1.
Oliver and Kralowetz combined for the game two shutout with Oliver notching the win, her ninth of the season.
Oliver struck out five, walked three and gave up four hits in six scoreless innings, and Kralowetz slammed the door in the seventh with two strikeouts. She gave up one hit and allowed an unearned run.