By Tim Robertson
By averaging more than a strikeout per inning in the 2 ½ seasons of her career, Kayleigh Lotti will take her first crack at the school’s career strikeout record of 638 against Drexel on Saturday, as she sits seven shy of breaking the 13-year-old record.
Lotti fanned three on Wednesday against Fordham, numbers 630 through 632, in two innings. Her chances of breaking the record, currently held by Stacy Jackson, are good as she averages close to 10 strikeouts per start against CAA opponents.
Lotti’s domination of the CAA in her career is evident. She enters this weekend 7-1 with a .52 ERA this season and last year she posted an 11-1 record and a .97 ERA.
She broke the single-season strikeout record last season with 277, and now holds it strong at 319. She has 133 entering the series against the Dragons.
The Massachusetts native’s “stuff” – as baseball gurus call it – is electric. Watching her pitch is a sight that no one should miss.
Remember how hard and with what ease strikeouts came to Danny Almonte some years ago? Think the same style, but Lotti really is 20.
With her team sitting atop the CAA standings by a half-game over Towson and just two up over Drexel, and Lotti approaching a major milestone, plus two players threatening the single-season stolen bases record, there are plenty of reasons to trek to Hofstra Softball Stadium for a few games this weekend.
Plus, the weather says 68 and sunny.
The Pride will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon and a game on Sunday also starting at noon.
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For any sports fan on campus, last Saturday – despite early thunder and lightning – couldn’t have been more perfect.
Of course the men’s lacrosse team played in the early afternoon – and won against CAA rival Delaware – and the baseball team played a 2 p.m. game against George Mason – oh how I hate them. But more went on than met the eye.
Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams took on Drexel – and sent the Dragons home winless – and the volleyball team hosted their annual Spike the Cure tournament to raise money for breast cancer. The women’s soccer team played a friendly, field hockey hosted a few teams, high school lacrosse teams played on the rugby field and Greek Week wrapped up – hey, I didn’t say talented athletes played.
What better way to procrastinate as the semester winds down than stroll on both sides of campus, grabbing free Hofstra shirts along the way, and taking in such a rich variety of sports not often featured?
I find days like Saturday a 100 percent more enjoyable than days when just the football team plays or just the basketball team plays. There is so much to do, and if one team is losing and you can’t sit through it, you just have to move 100 feet to the next field.
I don’t know if I can give credit to the athletic department for scheduling it this way, I believe it happened by coincidence, but regardless, it should happen more and be advertised as a big event in order to ramp up support for teams that rarely draw gigantic crowds.