By Jerome Bailey, Staff Writer
This past weekend the Hofstra softball team traveled to Louisville, KY for the Louisville Invitational. The Pride faced nationally ranked opponents including no. 5 Michigan Wolverines (17-4) and no.18 Louisville Cardinals (15-6). Despite holding the lead in each of the three games, the Pride won only one.
“We played very well and had chances to gain the lead, however we could not put it all together,” said head coach Bill Edwards.
The Pride (10-3) had multiple opportunities to defeat the Wolverines but could not convert its chances. On Saturday, at the start of the seventh inning, the Pride and the Wolverines were locked in a 2-2 tie. The Pride defense withstood the Wolverines threat by converting a double play. The Pride came to bat and were able to get freshman Tessa Ziemba on first base and senior first baseman Michele DePasquale was walked, moving Ziemba, the winning run to second base.
The Pride could not capitalize on the opportunity as junior third baseman Sara Michalowski grounded out, sending the game to extra innings. In the extra inning, the Wolverines drew first blood, scoring two runs and held on for the 4-3 victory.
“We just did not get the hits we needed to extend our lead. However, the tightness of this games shows that we can play with anyone in the country,” said Edwards.
On Sunday the Pride struck first with a double by freshman pitcher Olivia Galati. Galati moved to third on a wild pitch and Ziemba drove her home to give the Pride a 1-0 lead. Hofstra was unable to contain the Wolverine offense though. With runners on first and second base, the Wolverines Molly Bausher doubled to tie the score. The Wolverines added on two more early runs to extend the lead to 3-1.
Galati tossed a three-hitter with eight strikeouts, two walks and no earned runs to lead the Pride to a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals Friday afternoon. With the Pride clinging to a 2-1 lead, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Galati came through in the pitching circle. The Cardinals had a runner on second base with one out but Galati responded by striking out the next two batters to seal the victory for the Pride. The win improves Galati’s record to 5-1 with all five victories coming against major conference opponents.
The Pride will look to get back to its winning ways when it hosts the Hofstra Invitational next weekend. The Invitational features games against Boston University and Connecticut.
“Boston University is the defending American East Champions and Connecticut is in the Big East. Therefore, we have to play the same way we played last weekend. We have to be ready to face tough competition,” said Edwards.
