SB: Hofstra Starts Road Trip At Fordham And Penn State

Hempstead, N.Y. – Hofstra will start an 11-game trip this week with a single road game at Fordham on Wednesday followed by a three-game weekend set at Penn State.

The Pride will take on the Rams at 3 p.m. from Bahoshy Field. Live statistics will be available. Hofstra will then oppose Penn State in a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. from Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field followed by the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. Live statistics for those games will be available as well.

Head Coach Larissa Anderson's team went 3-1 in the weekend Hofstra Invitational to open the home portion of the schedule. Hofstra will enter the road trip 11-8 overall.

Senior outfielder Carny Bailey is one of five Hofstra player with double-digit RBIs. She has driven in 11 in 19 games while hitting .316. Bailey drove in five runs in the Hofstra Invitational to bring her career total to 134. She needs just one more to tie former teammate Erin Trippi for the seventh-most in team history and two more to tie Alicia Smith for sixth.

Sophomore Brittany Allocca has continued the transition from first baseman to catcher by hitting a team-best .340. She has tallied three home runs and 12 RBIs and caught junior Jessica Peslak's first career complete-game shutout in guiding the right-hander to a three-hitter in six innings in Sunday's victory over St. John's.

Four Hofstra starters are hitting better than .300, including Allocca, Bailey, senior Kim Smith and sophomore Nikki Michalowski. Hofstra is hitting a collective .279.

Hofstra is 9-3 in the all-time series against Fordham. The Pride defeated the Rams, 7-1, in a five-inning game shortened by rain last season.

Fordham is off to an 11-13 start but won the first four games at home with two victories apiece against Saint Peter's and Providence in the Fordham Tournament. The Rams are on a five-game winning streak overall.

Fordham has hit only 11 home runs in 24 games, though Sydney Canessa has six of those long balls while hitting a team-best .348. Lindsay Mayer's 13 RBIs trails only Canessa's 17 for the team lead and Amy Van Hoven and Jessica Hughes have both scored 13 runs, which is second only to Canessa's 16 runs.

Fordham's Lauren Quense and Rachel Gillen have accounted for every decision in the circle. Quense is 4-5 and has logged 55 innings while Gillen (7-8) has 81 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings.

Penn State is 9-11 overall and has lost six of the last eight games heading into the weekend. The team will be opening the home schedule at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.

Penn State has a pair of .400 hitters on the team, including Erin Pond, who has hit .450 in just 10 games, and regular starter Shelby Miller's .420 average. Alyssa VanDerveer has a team-leading 22 RBIs and four home runs while slugging .583, which trails only Miller's .609 average. Staff ace Marlaina Laubach is 4-3 with a 2.18 ERA and has logged three of Penn State's four complete games. She has struck out 44 in 57 2/3 innings.

Hofstra is 4-2 all-time against Penn State. The Pride has never played the Nittany Lions on its home field. The last meeting between the schools came in 2013 when the Pride won in the Citrus Classic. The teams last met in the postseason when the squads split in the NCAA regionals on Hofstra's campus in 2006.

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Players Mentioned

#32 Erin Trippi: C; 5' 5"; Senior; R/R

#21 Brittany Allocca: C/INF; 5' 6"; Sophomore; R/R

#11 Nikki Michalowski: UT; 5' 8"; Sophomore; R/R

#28 Jessica Peslak: P; 5' 10"; Junior; R/R

#3 Kim Smith: INF; 5' 4"; Senior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#32 Erin Trippi
: 5' 5"; Senior; R/R
: C

#21 Brittany Allocca
: 5' 6"; Sophomore; R/R
: C/INF

#11 Nikki Michalowski
: 5' 8"; Sophomore; R/R
: UT

#28 Jessica Peslak
: 5' 10"; Junior; R/R
: P

#3 Kim Smith
: 5' 4"; Senior; R/R
: INF