The Hofstra Softball team, which captured the Colonial Athletic Association regular season championship with a 4-3 win over James Madison on the final day of the regular season on Sunday, will host the 2004 CAA Tournament this Thursday-Saturday, May 13-15 at Hofstra Softball Stadium.

Hofstra (30-18, 14-4 CAA) will serve as the top seed in the double-elimination tournament and will open up play at 3:30 on Thursday against fourth-seeded Delaware (27-22-1, 9-8 CAA). The first semifinal will feature second-seeded James Madison (29-30, 12-6 CAA) against third-seeded Towson (35-26, 11-7 CAA) at 12 noon. The losers of the two Thursday games will play an elimination game on Friday at 10 a.m., while the two winners will meet at 12:30 p.m. for the right to advance through to Saturday's championship round.

Hofstra won two out of three games at James Madison over the weekend to secure the top seed. The Pride lost the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 1-0, but bounced back to win the nightcap 2-0 behind a shutout from junior pitcher Callie Osborne (Oshawa, Ontario/St. Charles-Garnier - pictured). The Saturday split meant that the regular season title would come down to the single game on Sunday, which the Pride captured 4-3.

The victory meant that the Pride would serve as the top seed and host for the CAA Tournament for the third time in three seasons, since the league was founded in 2002. Hofstra has won its last six conference championships, including the first two in the CAA and the last four in the America East from 1998-2001. In addition, the Pride has won either a regular season or a postseason conference title for each of the last 13 years, dating back to the 1992 season in the now-defunct East Coast Conference. Since joining the America East in 1995 (then called the North Atlantic Conference), the Pride has been the top seed in nine of its 10 conference tournaments, with the only exception coming in 2001, when it was the second seed behind Boston University.

Hofstra opens play on Thursday against fourth-seeded Delaware, which took one game out of three from the Pride at Hofstra Softball Stadium from April 9-10. The loss, a 4-2, 10-inning defeat on April 10, was the only one that Hofstra has ever suffered at home to a CAA opponent in its three seasons in the league. The Pride is 27-1 all-time at home against CAA foes, including 6-0 in the first two CAA Tournaments. Hofstra is 37-1 in its last 38 home games against league opponents, dating back to the 2001 season in the America East.

The Pride is led offensively by freshman outfielder Ashley Lane, a local product from Westbury, New York (W.T. Clarke High School) on Long Island. Lane is hitting a team-best .364 on the season to go along with nine homers and a team-leading 38 RBI. The nine round-trippers set a new school record for homers by a freshman, while she is just five RBI short of that freshman record as well. Junior outfielder/first baseman Hailey Clark (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield) has added 15 home runs, two shy of the school record set last season by the since-graduated Danielle Stewart. Clark is hitting .306, including .390 since returning north from the early-season Florida trips and .434 at home.

Hofstra's pitching and defense has also been exceptional, especially as of late. Osborne has won her last seven starts and has an 11-3 record and an 0.84 ERA, giving her an excellent chance to become the first Hofstra pitcher with an ERA under 1.00 since Stacy Jackson (0.96) in 1994. She has tallied two abbreviated no-hitters and a one-hitter in conference play. Junior Adrienne Clark (Gibsonton, FL/Riverview) had won seven starts in a row as well before dropping a tough 1-0 decision in the opening game of the James Madison series. Senior Alexis Alcantara (Levittown, PA/Notre Dame Academy) earned the win in Sunday's clincher for the Pride, improving to 6-0 against conference teams this season (8-3 overall).

On defense, Hofstra enters the tournament having allowed only one runner to reach base on an error in the last 13 contests. The Pride went through a streak of eight games in a row without an error, longest in school history, before seeing the streak snapped on a failed pick-off attempt against Stony Brook on Wednesday, May 5. Hofstra also committed just one error in the three-game weekend series at James Madison.

Second-seeded James Madison is led in the pitching circle and at the plate by junior Liz George. George is hitting .374 with 22 RBI at the plate, and is 14-11 with a 1.87 earned run average in the pitching circle. Junior first baseman Katie Jaworski leads the Dukes with 36 RBI to go with a .338 batting average, while freshman shortstop Katie George, Liz' younger sister, is hitting .321 with a team-best 41 runs scored. Junior Briana Carrera also sees some of the pitching duties for James Madison, tallying a 10-12 record and a 1.91 ERA.

Third-seeded Towson, which has been the runner-up to Hofstra in each of the last three conference tournaments, is led by junior outfielder Jeanne Bosch, who is hitting .326 with three homers and 29 RBI. Junior shortstop Katie Mumbauer is batting .315 with nine homers and 25 RBI, but has missed the last nine games with an injury. Senior outfielder Sara Foster is also over .300 (.305) with five homers and 29 RBI. In the circle, 2003 CAA Pitcher of the Year Jessica Wides has seen the majority of the action for the Tigers and has a 10-12 record and a 2.22 ERA. Senior Beth Wilcox is 9-10 with a 2.24 ERA, while freshman Jillian Kiley has been coming on strong of late with a 10-2 record and a 1.44 ERA.

Fourth-seeded Delaware is led by senior third baseman Laura Streets, who comes into the CAA Tournament with a .399 batting average on the season, 19 doubles and 31 RBI. Junior designated player Randi Isaacs is second on the Fightin' Blue Hens with a .283 batting average and 18 RBI. Freshman Carolynn Sloat has had a busy rookie season, throwing 219.2 innings and tallying a 17-14 record and a 1.31 earned run average. Junior Jenn Joseph, meanwhile, is 9-6 with a 1.73 ERA as the team's No. 2 starter.

This year marks the first season that the CAA Tournament will have an automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Division I Tournament. Last year, Hofstra still earned an at-large bid to the NCAA's last year, compiling a 2-2 record at the regionals in Lincoln, Nebraska, including a 3-1 upset over #11-ranked Nebraska in its opening game. The Pride will be looking to make its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance under Head Coach Bill Edwards, including its fifth in the last six years.


2004 CAA TOURNAMENT @ HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
Thursday, May 13
Game 1: #2 James Madison (29-30, 12-6 CAA) vs. #3 Towson (35-26, 11-7), 12 p.m.
Game 2: #1 Hofstra (30-18, 14-4 CAA) vs. #4 Delaware (27-22-1, 9-8), 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 14
Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 10 a.m.
Game 4: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 12:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 3 p.m.

Saturday, May 15
Game 6: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 7: Rematch of Game 6 (if necessary), 30 minutes after first game

Sunday, May 16
Rain Date