By Tim Robertson
The Hofstra softball team enters this weekend on a tear, winners of their last eight, including five in the past week, and they dominated all five games from the circle, allowing one run in 35 innings of work.
The Pride opened its weekend slate with a trio of games against UNC-Wilmington, a team struggling from the circle this season, but not from the plate. Hofstra used a big inning in each game to topple the Seahawks.
In game one, the two CAA teams battled through the first four innings, neither sending a runner across the plate, but the Pride slipped ahead in the fifth with a two-run home run by catcher Carolann Lubach, her second homer of the season.
The Pride then erupted for five more runs in the sixth with four run-scoring singles. Sophomore Michele DePasquale knocked in two, and Pam Dreslinski and Christie Novatin each drove in one. Senior Courtney Oliver drew a bases-loaded walk for the fifth and final run of the game. The Pride won the first game of their Saturday doubleheader 7-0.
“When we get our slappers on, we score runs,” coach Bill Edwards said. “We got some key hits from the top and the bottom, and it was just timely hitting and a lot of it. When you hit and score the runs we did, we’ll take it.”
In the circle, junior Kayleigh Lotti kept doing what she does best – racking up the strikeouts. She went the full seven innings to pick up career win no. 50, allowed one hit, one walk, and fanned a dozen. Lotti added a baker’s dozen in a start on Sunday, which pushed her over the 600 strikeout mark for her career.
“When you pitch and play defense, you’re going to be in games,” Edwards said.
In the second game, Oliver went the full six innings in a game shortened by the mercy rule. Oliver added 10 strikeouts and gave up just two hits for the win.
“Pitching you don’t have to blow pitches by people,” he said. “Court was absolutely on her spots.”
The Pride exploded in the third with five runs on six hits – five of which were singles. Pam Dreslinski drove in a pair of runs with her single and Casey Fee ripped an RBI double as the Pride batted around in the order.
In the sixth, with the game well in hand at 7-0, the Pride tallied one more on an RBI single from Lubach, her third of the game, which ended the game 8-0 due to the mercy rule.
“Run support really helps you relax, it takes the pressure off,” Oliver said after the game.
Hofstra’s pitching and hitting continued its dominance 24 hours later after a ceremony to retire Crystal Boyd’s no. 13.
Lotti tossed another shutout and notched her 10th win, including a 6-0 record against CAA foes, and the Pride won 6-0. Lotti’s 13 strikeouts gave her a new season-high.
The shutout sweep of the Seahawks became the first time since 2005 the Pride accomplished a three-game shutout sweep in a CAA series.
This time, the Pride restricted its scoring to one inning: the second. A sliver of good for UNCW, or at least their pitching staff, is that all of the Pride’s six runs crossed the plate unearned. Freshman third baseman Sara Michalowski shined with a 3-for-3 afternoon with an RBI and a run scored, and Erika Bernstein went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. The weekend sweep pushed the Pride to a 7-2 conference mark heading into this weekend’s road series against powerhouse Georgia State.
On Tuesday, the Pride entertained non-conference opponent Iona, but didn’t prove very hospitable and kicked the Gaels out of Hofstra Softball Stadium early as they won 12-0 in a mercy rule-shortened 4 ½ innings.
The Gaels got more than they could handle from Michalowski, who starred in the circle with five shutout innings with two strikeouts and a solid defensive performance behind her. Michalowski also hurt Iona from the other side, with a two-run RBI single and earned a bases loaded walk for a total of three RBIs on the afternoon.
The Pride again used a big inning – again, the second – to topple Iona. Hofstra scored seven runs highlighted by a two-run double by Oliver and a two-run single by sophomore Michele DePasquale. Sophomore Kris Root added an RBI of her own, scored three times, got two hits and picked up her 18th stolen base of the season.
Hofstra brought their seven-game winning streak on a road show to Storrs, Conn., on Wednesday to face the University of Connecticut Huskies, and the Pride relied more on defense to garner win 25 than offense. DePasquale extended her hitting streak to 12 games with a pair of hits, two runs scored and an RBI single in the first to pace the Pride.
Hofstra’s shutout streak ended in the fourth as Oliver allowed an RBI single to UConn’s Erin Burtner. Oliver went four innings with four strikeouts and notched her sixth win, while Lotti relieved her and struck out four of her own – she now sits 25 short of the school’s career record of 638 – in three innings of work for her third save of the season.