Hempstead, NY - Senior center fielder Kris Root (Waynesboro, PA) celebrated Senior Day with four hits, including key singles in the seventh and tenth, as the Hofstra Softball team won a 4-3, 10-inning game over Drexel in its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at Hofstra Softball Stadium.
Sophomore second baseman Jess Hirschbuhl (Jamison, PA) had a tying two-run single with two outs in the seventh to cap a three run rally as the Pride overcame a 3-0 deficit in its final at bat before winning on a throwing error in the 10th. All four of the Pride's seniors - Root (four hits), Michele DePasquale (Waterford, NJ - two hits), Christie Novatin (Farmingdale, NJ - two hits), and Stefanie Feinstein (West Chester, PA - two hits) had multi-hit games on their Senior Day, and all four of them factored prominently in the tying runs in the seventh and/or the winning run in the tenth.
The win improves Hofstra's record to 40-10 on the year and 18-2 in the CAA as it won the regular season title by 4.5 games over second place Georgia State. It marks the seventh 40-win season in the program history, including the third in the last four years that the senior class has been a part of. Drexel ends its season at 20-24 and 8-13 in league play.
Trailing 3-0 with one out in the seventh, Root and DePasquale both singled to start the tying rally on their Senior Day. Freshman right fielder Tessa Ziemba (Wilmington, DE) followed with a line drive single to center to load the bases with one out, and Drexel went to sophomore Hillary Allen in relief of senior starter Katrina Gaudier, who shut the Pride out through the first six innings.
Allen got junior third baseman Sara Michalowski (Philadelphia, PA) to pop up before walking Novatin to force home a run and pull the Pride within 3-1. Hirschbuhl followed with a two-run single through the left side, as Ziemba raced around from second with the tying run, just beating the throw as she collided with Drexel catcher Paige Collings. With the winning run on third, Allen was able to get Feinstein on a groundout to second to force the game into extra frames.
In the tenth, Feinstein led off with a single into right-center and was replaced by junior pinch-runner Krista Thorn (Smithtown, NY). Thorn moved up to second on a groundout, and one out later, Root moved her over to third with a single through the left side. DePasquale then hit a bullet into the five-six hole, that Drexel third baseman Devon Metcalf was able to snag with a dive to her left. Metcalf got up with time to make the play, but her throw was in the dirt, and first baseman Ashley Botelho couldn't quite pick it as Thorn scored with the winning run, giving Hofstra its 40th win of the season.
Root led off the game with a single to stretch her career-best hitting streak to 15 games. Drexel quickly turned a double play, though, to prevent Hofstra from jumping out to an early lead. Senior first baseman Ashley Botelho then led off the second inning with a solo homer to give Drexel a 1-0 lead, her seventh round-tripper of the season.
Hofstra left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, as junior catcher Laura Valentino (Smithtown, NY) missed a two-out grand slam by five feet when her long drive down the left field line curved foul, before she grounded out to shortstop on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning. Second baseman Kelly Downes came up with a big defensive play for the Dragons with runners and first and third and one out, as she lunged to stop a sharp one-hopper from Feinstein to prevent the tying run from scoring.
Root led off the third with a walk and stole second, improving to 14-14 stealing bases this season and giving her 52 in her career, moving her alone into third on the Pride's career list, three shy of the school record held by Lisa Wambold (2003-06). She was left stranded on third, though, when Michalowski lined out to deep right field with two outs.
Hofstra continued to have some bad luck in the fourth as Novatin led off by scorching a liner to Metcalf at third for the first out. Hirschbuhl then hit a long foul ball to left before lining a single to right, but she was called out for leaving first base early on a hit and run. Feinstein then tripled to center with two outs, but was left stranded at third as Gaudier maneuvered out of the jam with a pop-up.
Drexel carried over its good fortune into offense in the top of the fifth. Shortstop Caprice DeMirjian laid down a perfect bunt with one out, and Metcalf was jammed on an inside pitch, but blooped a single that landed right on the left field line to put two runners on. After a groundout moved the runners up a base, Rachel Campbell flared a single the other way into shallow left that narrowly eluded the dive of Novatin as two runners scored and gave Drexel a 3-0 lead.
Hofstra had two runners on in the sixth inning after Novatin's double landed just inside the right field line. Feinstein then lined a ball down the line two feet foul and just missed a three-run homer that went five feet foul, before finally flying out to left. Gaudier was then able to get junior shortstop Trisha Dreslinski (Kingsville, OH) to float a line drive off the end of her bat to DeMirjian at shortstop to end the inning.
Valentino just missed her second homer of the game in the bottom of the eighth as her long drive went about two feet wide of the foul pole in left. Root had her third hit of the game in the eighth, giving her three hits in all three games of the series, but Allen retired DePasquale on the first pitch to send the contest into the ninth.
Freshman pitcher Olivia Galati (West Babylon, NY), who missed the Iona game on Tuesday with an illness, labored a bit in the middle innings, but got a second wind after the Pride tied the score. She finished with 13 strikeouts, six of which came in extra innings when she retired nine of the 10 batters she faced, allowing only a two-out walk in the ninth. She improved to 23-6 on the season, pulling her within three wins of the single-season school record.
Root's 4-for-5 effort improved her stats for the weekend to 10-for-12 in the three-game series with Drexel, and 12-for-14 on the week, including a 2-for-2 performance against Iona on Tuesday. Novatin was 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI, Feinstein was 2-for-5 and DePasquale was 2-for-6, as the Pride seniors combined for 10 of the team's 14 hits. Hirschbuhl was also 2-for-4 with her two RBI.
Hofstra will next be in action when it hosts the CAA Tournament next Wednesday-Friday, May 12-14, after earning the regular season title. The regular season championship marked the 19th year in a row that Hofstra has won a conference championship of some kind (either regular season or tournament). The top-seeded Pride will open CAA Tournament play against fourth-seeded Towson on Wednesday at 12 noon, while second-seeded Georgia State will play third-seeded James Madison at 3:30 p.m.
