Junior pitcher Callie Osborne (Oshawa, Ontario/St. Charles-Garnier) threw a seven-hit shutout for her seventh win in a row as the Hofstra Softball team stayed alive in its bid to host the CAA Championships with a 2-0 win over James Madison in the nightcap of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at JMU Softball Stadium. James Madison won the opening game 1-0 on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.
With the split, Hofstra moves to 29-18 on the season and 13-4 in the CAA, maintaining a one-game lead over James Madison with one game to play. Whoever wins tomorrow's noon game at JMU Softball Complex will earn the top seed and the right to host the CAA Tournament on May 13-15. The Pride's win on Saturday did guarantee Hofstra at least a share of the regular season CAA title, marking the 13th year in a row that Hofstra has won either a regular season or a postseason conference championship.
Osborne scattered seven hits, striking out seven and walked one to get the win to improve to 11-3 in the circle. She has not lost since suffering a 10-inning 4-2 defeat to Delaware on April 10, winning her last seven starts in a row. Hofstra also avoided its first doubleheader sweep to a conference opponent since Delaware in 2000 with the nightcap victory.
In the nightcap, Hofstra scored its first run of the day when senior catcher Meaghan Almon (East Greenwich, RI/East Greenwich) doubled deep down the left field line with two outs in the top of the fourth inning, scoring freshman right fielder Ashley Lane (Westbury, NY/Clarke), who had doubled with one out to extend her hitting streak to 14 games. James Madison nearly evened the score in the bottom of the fourth, as pinch-hitter Kelly Berkemeier hit a sharp line drive with runners on first and third and two outs, but Hofstra sophomore shortstop Laura Sweeney (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) slid to her knees to scoop the ball up on a hop and get the force play at second.
The Pride kept the lead at 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, despite a two-out double to the wall from Megan Smith to put runners on second and third. Osborne then got Natalie Burd to hit a chopper to third base, which Pride third baseman Tara Ulrich (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) jumped to pull in before throwing Burd out to end the threat.
Hofstra extended the lead to 2-0 in the top of the seventh, as Ulrich led off with a walk, moved to second on an error, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from junior designated player Adrienne Clark (Gibsonton, FL/Riverview) and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from junior first baseman Hailey Clark (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield).
In the opener, Hofstra dodged a bullet in the bottom of the first inning as James Madison picked up four hits off Adrienne Clark, but was unable to score a run. Leadoff hitter Katie George doubled to right field to start the inning, but Lane got to the ball at the warning track and threw George out trying to stretch it into a triple. The Dukes managed three more singles in the inning, but left the bases loaded. The Pride also avoided potential trouble in the bottom of the fifth, as sophomore shortstop had a diving catch of a soft line drive from Kara Schwind with runners on first and second to preserve the 0-0 tie.
The luck ran out for the Pride in the bottom of the sixth inning, as James Madison loaded the bases with one out on singles by Katie Jaworski and Megan Smith and an intentional walk. Clark struck out Sally Smith swinging for the second out, but bounced her first pitch to Ashlee Schenk off home plate. The ball ricocheted up and hit Almon in the face mask before rolling up the third base line, allowing pinch runner Katherine Schray to score from third.
Adrienne Clark, who had won her previous seven starts in a row, took the tough-luck loss to slip to 10-11. Liz George (14-10) allowed only three singles to get the shutout, the first shutout against the Pride since it fell 2-0 on April 3 against Towson, a span of 24 games. Briana Carrera, Katie Jaworski, and Megan Smith each batted 2-for-3 for James Madison. Lane went 1-for-3 to extend her hitting streak to 13 games for the Pride.
The two teams will return to action tomorrow when they conclude their three-game series with a single game at JMU Softball Stadium, beginning at 12 noon.
