Los Angeles, CA - Junior Olivia Galati limited San Diego State to one run in a complete-game five-hitter as Hofstra won the NCAA
Los Angeles Regional championship with a 2-1 win over the Aztecs on Sunday
afternoon at Easton Stadium.
The fourth-seeded Pride advanced to the Super Regionals
for the first time in program history. Hofstra (41-13) will now face South
Florida in the best-of-three Super Regionals in Tampa, Fla. Start times and dates will be announced shortly.
Sophomore second baseman Tori Rocha and junior right
fielder Tessa Ziemba each had a RBI to help Hofstra post a three-game sweep in
a regional that featured two nationally ranked teams in UCLA and Florida State
and a third-seeded Aztecs squad that won 32 games.
Galati (33-5) won her 31st straight start to cap a dramatic regional in which the lower seed won all
six games. Hofstra defeated No. 12 overall seed UCLA in the opening round and
beat the third-seeded Aztecs on back-to-back days for the regional title.
Hofstra (41-13) tied a school record with its 20
consecutive victory overall, matching the team mark first established in 1993. Galati struck out six and did not walk a
batter in logging her 35th complete game.
SDSU mounted one last threat in the seventh down by a
run. Ashley Rose reached on a one-out single, bringing up pinch hitter Iris
Castaneda while Katie Mathis come on as a pinch runner. Galati then got
Castaneda to fly out to left and struck out F. Reifschneider swinging to set
off a massive celebration on UCLA's home field.
SDSU's Bailey Micetich dropped to 17-8, taking the hard-luck loss after giving
up two runs (one earned) into four innings despite giving up just three hits.
Micetich had thrown back-to-back shutouts against Florida State and was 2-0 with
21 strikeouts against just one walk entering the game.
Hofstra erased a one-run deficit when Rocha hit a two-out RBI single to center
in the fourth and Ziemba pulled a sacrifice fly to left in the fifth for the
2-1 edge to support Galati. The West Babylon, N.Y. native saved her best
pitching effort for the sixth after being handed the lead, escaping a
runner-on-third; one-out jam without allowing a run to preserve the lead
entering the seventh.
SDSU's Kayla Jordan reached on a leadoff infield single
to second and stole second base. Jordan raced to third on a ground out to the
right side, bringing up cleanup hitter Lorena Klopp. Klopp, who entered with a
.306 average, battled Galati before striking out swinging on a change-up.
Galati then escaped the jam by forcing Fiana Finau to hit a soft comebacker to
the mound for the easy ground out.
SDSU scratched out a run in the fourth to open the
scoring. Kayla Jordan lined a single to right and advanced on a sacrifice bunt.
A hit-batter and an infield single then loaded the bases. Hofstra brought the
corner infielders in, though Kristin May hit a roller to short for a RBI ground
out and a 1-0 edge.
The Aztecs threatened for more, though Galati forced
Ashley Rose to fly out to left to strand two. Hofstra responded with a rally in
the bottom of the inning after senior Krista Thorn rocketed a single to left
and advanced ot second on a ground out. After a fly out, Rocha picked up her
team with a clutch two-out single to center, allowing Thorn to score easily off
the line-drive base hit.
Hofstra kept the pressure on in the fifth when senior Rachael Senatore used her
speed off a grounder to short that SDSU's Haley Miles bobbled for an error. The
Aztecs then replaced Micetich with Rebecca Arbino, who threw a complete-game
against the Pride in Hofstra's 2-0 win on Saturday.
Arbino struck out the first batter she faced before
Galati hit an opposite-field single to put runners on first-and-second with one
out. A passed ball on a 1-1 count moved both runners in scoring position, which
proved invaluable as Ziemba was able to score Senatore with the go-ahead run on
a sac fly.
Galati picked up her 1,000th career strikeout on the
opening batter, getting Mountain
West Co-Player of the Year Miles to strike out swinging in becoming the
first Hofstra player to reach the 1,000 mark.
Galati blanked SDSU in the winner's bracket contest on
Saturday, marking the first time a Hofstra pitcher threw a shutout in NCAA
Tournament play since Kayleigh Lotti accomplished the feat in a 1-0 win over
LIU in the 2008 regionals.
Galati's 31 straights wins is now just two off the NCAA
Division I single-season record. In an interesting note, the holder of that
record is current SDSU head coach Kathy Van Wyk, who posted 33 straight wins
for Cal. St. Fullerton in 1982.
