Being the youngest in your family can come with many obstacles, but for Meghan Giordano, the versatile third baseman for the Hofstra softball team, being the youngest in her family is a blessing in disguise that helped her find her passion.

“I come from a lot of older cousins playing baseball and just getting me involved in sports from a really young age,” Giordano said. “I was also able to watch my oldest cousin play high school ball and then go on to college.”

“My older brother, he’s two years older than me; so him and my dad have had that love for sports, and I’ve just carried it through and been playing ever since,” she said.

 Giordano not only credits her family for getting her into softball, but also credits them for helping her to find herself in the sport altogether.

“Definitely being the youngest gave me a lot of tough skin,” Giordano said.  “Always being thrown into any sport, I’ve had a lot of athleticism and love for sports owed to [my family]. I have just been thrown into sports with my brother and his friends, and so that has definitely helped me a lot.”

Giordano’s toughness has translated to her play on the field, currently leading the Pride this season in home runs with five and RBIs with 23. The senior is also batting .291 and is second on the team with 34 hits.

For her career, Giordano has tallied 19 home runs and 102 RBIs. Her play has not only helped build her confidence in becoming the leader of the Pride but has also played a part in bringing the team closer together. Giordano’s respect for her teammates and coaching staff has been the  focal point of her collegiate career.

“I like to look at my teammates a lot and just how everybody has grown so much,” Giordano said. “Especially, over my last three and half or so years.”

“We work so well together,” Giordano said. “ It’s easy for everyone to establish their role and to just really delve into what will lead us to be the most successful. That is the most important part of being a leader. Everybody has a role; everybody has an opportunity to lead, and I think that because we are so cohesive, that it’s easy to work with this group of girls we have.”

The 2022 season has been up-and-down for the Pride, opening with an 0-9 record through a difficult non-conference schedule, playing multiple teams in from Power Five conferences to start the year.

“We started, had one of the toughest opponents I have seen in my last four years here,” Giordano said. “I think we just got to continue to learn from each game, each win, each loss.”

Hofstra has since regrouped during conference play and are now sitting in third place in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings.

“I think we’re in a spot where we know what it’s going to take to win,” Giordano said. “What’s even better is we’re willing to work for what it’s going to take to win, so I don’t think there’s any let up in this group ever.”

“It’s been insane to see and just admire all my teammates too, for just how hard each and every single person has worked,” Giordano said. “Everybody’s got a role on the team, and I think it’s been super cool to see everybody embrace that role and do whatever they got to do to their very best ability, giving it all 100%.”

The senior has experienced it all throughout her nearly four years at Hofstra, being as reliable as you can get with 136 starts, appearing in every game since her freshman season.

“The past three years have been extremely beneficial for me as a player and as a person,” Giordano said. “Going through multiple coaching changes, I have gotten to see a lot of different styles and everything like that. This experience has been one I would never change. Every year we get a few different new girls come in, and its taught me a lot about how to adapt. And I think that’s one of the things our team has been working on all year, the ability to adapt to different changes.”

If you are thinking that this competitive fire between Giordano and her teammates stops off the field, think again.

“I think one of our favorite activities has to be bowling,” Giordano said. “It helps us have fun, but we still always have that competitive drive with each other. Every little thing is a competition, so it’s a lot of fun. Plus, with most of us living in one dorm, we really do spend a lot of time together.”

With graduation on her radar, the senior has begun to look at the next chapter of her life, which she says may very well still include softball.

“I think that I would love to coach, definitely,”  Giordano said. “I have learned a lot from our coaches, and all the coaches that I have had in the past have made me think that it’s such a special thing to do. It is so cool from my perspective right now being a player and the experiences that I would be able to have with a team of my own someday.”

When it is all said and done, Giordano looks to the younger class of softball players by offering some words of wisdom for those wanting to put on the Hofstra blue and gold.

“My biggest advice is to come in and work real hard and to always go and do everything at 100%,” Giordano said. “One thing we try to keep in the back of our mind is this is a game of failure and to not let yourself get down on the failure. We are always learning from [failure] and it’s easier to learn from it if you are going 100%.”

Photo courtesy of Mike McLaughlin/Hofstra Athletics