By Sean WilliamsAssistant sports editor
The Hofstra Pride softball team showed exactly what a group clicking on all cylinders could do this weekend when it hosted and won the Hofstra Invitational.
The Pride went 4-0 over the home stand and outscored opponents by a whopping 34 runs.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that concentration level, the approach, the discipline… they really came out this weekend,” said Hofstra head coach Bill Edwards.
The Pride’s (11-8) offense was truly on display against invitational opponents Central Connecticut State University (8-9) and the University of Connecticut (10-8).
Hofstra won by scores of 9-0 and 12-6 against Central Connecticut, while defeating the University of Connecticut first 6-5, then winning a dominant 18-0 second game.
Winning the tournament was not the only notable part of the softball weekend; Olivia Galati broke Stacy Jackson’s school record of 96 wins on Saturday against Central Connecticut State.
She went on to win each of the four Pride games and Galati now has 100 career wins, improving to 11-7 on the season.
“It’s great to see her (Galati) break the record, she certainly deserves it,” said Edwards. “She’s worked so hard to become the accomplished pitcher she is.”
Between the emergence of the Hofstra bats and Galati’s great pitching, the weekend was one with no negatives for the Pride. But while Galati’s consistency was not a surprise, the strength of the hitting is a slightly different story.
“Usually one hitter is hot, this time everyone in the lineup hit… hitting is contagious,” said Edwards.
Senior Tessa Ziemba went 10-15 during the Invitational, just one of the several notable position players for the Pride, who were on fire at the plate.
Nearly everyone, whether they were established starters or young bench players, contributed to the offense.
Edwards said that “it was great to see everyone on the same page and breaking out.”
An unusual, but perfectly welcome sight happened on Sunday when sophomore Lindsey Reid and freshman Kim Smith recorded back-to-back pitch hit home runs.
“It was just a fun weekend,” Edwards said, beaming.
Edwards addressed and dismissed the possibility of overworking Galati, saying that he and his staff take a lot of time monitoring her workload during practice and observing how efficient she is in games.
“We will throw Olivia based on pitch counts,” Edwards stated firmly.
“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing, stay aggressive at the plate, and play that Hofstra defense,” said Edwards.
