Senior pitcher Courtney Oliver (Swansea, MA/Coyle-Cassidy - pictured) threw a four-hit shutout while striking out seven and walking none, as the Hofstra Softball team won its season opener with a 4-0 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday at the USF/Best Western Invitational.

Oliver worked out of some early jams, including leaving the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth, but settled down to retire the last 10 Florida A&M batters in order to pick up the win.

Hofstra was opportunistic in the early going, as the Pride used three straight walks with two outs in the first inning to score irs first run of the year, the last coming from freshman designated player Sara Michalowski (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) to push across the run.

In the second inning, junior left fielder Melissa Hodge (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton East) was hit by a pitch with one out, and junior second baseman Casey Fee (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) followed with a bunt back to pitcher Ashley Jones. Jones attempted to go to second, but her throw went to the outfield wall and Hodge and Fee were both able to circle the bases to stretch the lead to 3-0.

Hofstra capped off the scoring in the fourth inning, as Carolann Lubach (Langley, WA/South Whidbey) had a two-out single to score Hodge, who had walked.

Hofstra will next play fourth-ranked Tennessee, the 2007 NCAA runner-up, in the second game of the day.