The Hofstra University softball team was selected to square off against Liberty University, the Big South Conference Champions, in the regional round of the NCAA tournament in Columbia, South Carolina on Friday, May 18 at 5:00 p.m.

The four teams in that regional bracket will participate in a double-elimination tournament to determine which team will advance to the super regional round.

The Pride (40-12) punched it’s ticket to the big dance last Friday with a 7-4 victory over James Madison University to earn its first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship since 2015.

Hofstra head coach Larissa Anderson will lead the Pride into its 10th tournament appearance in the last 14 years – second under Anderson. 

“I have so much confidence in this team. They’re unbelievable. They’re very strong, we have great pitching, we have great depth, we have so many players that have the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark … we can play with anybody,” Anderson said. 

The Pride have five seniors from the 2015 tournament team that went 1-2 in regional play, including redshirt senior and team leader Michaela Transue.

“We’re always prepared for every game we play. We just have to take it one game at a time and hopefully we get to that championship game in the regional,” Transue said. 

The Lady Flame of Liberty enter the tournament riding a 17-game winning streak, the second longest active streak in the NCAA. 

Liberty finished the season posting a 47-12 record while earning their third conference title in program history. 

Amber Bishop and Autumn Bishop lead the way for the Lady Liberty with .378 and .369 batting averages respectively. The twin sophomores are atop a total of six Liberty players batting above .300. 

Star pitcher Julia DiMartino broke the program record for career strikeouts in the Big South Conference Championship to propel herself to a 27-7 record and 1.79 earned run average. 

Hofstra will turn to the tandem of Sarah Cornell and Sophie Dandola to continue their dominant seasons. 

“I’m real excited. Our seniors have been there before. We got a great seed so I think it’s a really, really good matchup and I think we can be very competitive” Anderson said.

The game will be broadcasted on ESPN3 on Friday, May 18 at 5:00 p.m.