The Hofstra University softball team has punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament after walking off the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship game on Saturday, May 13. Coming into this tournament, the Pride will face the top-seeded University of Oklahoma Sooners, who boast a 51-1 record and are riding a 43-game win streak going into this weekend’s Norman Regional.

This comes in as the program’s 20th conference championship and the first with Adrienne Clark as the head coach for the team.

“This championship means so much more than any other championship that I’ve ever been a part of,” Clark said. “When you see student-athletes really just buy into what they’re doing, committed to learning everything they can and build confidence in themselves, it really is such a magical thing. 

“The championship win – I’m still not over it, and I don’t think I will be for a really long time,” said Meghan Giordano, a Hofstra shortstop and winner of the CAA Championship Most Outstanding Player award. “It was the most surreal environment that I’ve ever been a part of.”

“Oklahoma is an incredibly talented team, and I think their record speaks for it, but I do believe we are also very talented. I think if we can continue to focus on what we’re capable of and what we can do, I think we can give them a run for their money,” Clark said. “All year long, we have not focused on who we are playing but focused on ourselves. When we take care of the things that we know how to do and what we’re capable of doing, then it really doesn’t matter who our opponent is.”

“Nothing really changes for us,” Giordano said. “At the end of the day, we’re gonna go play 100% Hofstra softball.”

 “I think the phrase ‘all hands on deck, all the time’ is how we plan to attack this weekend,” Clark said.

Reporting done by Jack Lydon

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics