Hempstead, N.Y. – A matchup of first-and-second place teams could determine the host of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament when Hofstra welcomes James Madison in a three-game series starting with a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday at Hofstra Softball Stadium.
Hofstra (31-11, 12-2 CAA) enters the weekend in second place but with a chance to make up ground against a JMU squad that is 36-10 and 15-0 against the league. The finale of the series will be Sunday at noon with all live audio of all three games available via Pride Zone.
The Pride has won 15 of the last 16 games, giving the defending CAA champions momentum entering the weekend showdown. The Dukes have won nine in a row and are hitting a collective .322. Both teams are receiving votes in the latest NFCA national poll.
Saturday's games will also be Little League Day and Think Pink Day. All fans are encouraged to wear pink to the games in support of breast cancer awareness. There will be t-shirt tosses and a raffle for a Hofstra Softball helmet signed by the entire team. At the conclusion of the doubleheader, all Little League players and children in attendance will be invited to an autograph session.
Hofstra is 30-6 in the all-time series against JMU, including a 2-0 showing last year with a road sweep in Harrisonburg, Va. The Pride did not allow a run in the rain-shortened series, winning 2-0 and 4-0. Weather wiped out the scheduled final game and ended the second game after five innings, giving senior Olivia Galati a no-hitter.
Galati has picked up where she left off in a 2012 campaign in which she earned a first-team All-America selection. This season, The West Babylon, N.Y. native is 28-10 with a 1.61 ERA with 295 strikeouts in 244 innings. Galati has held teams to a .189 batting average.
The Dukes have also been led by strong pitching with a right-lefty combination of Heather Kiefer and Jailyn Ford. Kiefer, a sophomore, is 13-5 with a 0.99 ERA. But while Kiefer has the lower ERA and four shutouts, Ford has proved to be the team's best power pitcher. The freshman southpaw leads the squad with seven shutouts in going 19-2 with a 1.53 ERA. Like Galati, Ford has shown the ability to miss bats in racking up 173 strikeouts in 137 innings.
Besides great pitching performances, Hofstra and JMU both boast balanced lineups. Hofstra has eight starters with plus-.300 batting averages while the Dukes claim six starters hitting better than .300. Hofstra's run differential is plus-158 while the Dukes are at plus-135.
Senior third baseman Jess Hirschbuhl has raised her average 50 points since April 7 thanks to logging at least one base hit in nine of the last 10 games. After taking a medical redshirt last season, Hirschbuhl has been healthy and productive in batting .355 with six home runs and 27 RBIs. Unafraid of contact, Hirschbuhl has been hit a team-high 10 times to help her post a .441 on-base percentage.
After missing six games with an injury, senior centerfielder Tessa Ziemba is back in the middle of the lineup. Ziemba leads Hofstra with 12 home runs and 34 RBIs. The Wilmington, Del. product is second on the school's all-time RBI list (164) and, with 37 home runs, needs just three more blasts to tie Ashley Lane's program record of 40 set from 2004-07.
Hofstra's young players have complemented the senior class. Freshman Caryn Bailey has started all 44 games to begin her college career and leads the team with a .390 average while adding eight home runs and 35 RBIs. Her 99 total bases are 10 more than the next-closest teammate in Ziemba. Both Bailey (.728) and Ziemba (.730) carry slugging percentages above the .700 threshold.
Like Bailey, Maggie Hawkins has been a starter as a freshman. Hofstra's primary first baseman is hitting .336 with three home runs and 21 RBIs. But this month, Hawkins has also emerged as Hofstra's second starter behind Galati. The right-hander threw four scoreless innings against LIU Brooklyn on Thursday to improve to 2-0 on the season with a 0.75 ERA.
In conference play, the Pride is coming off a series win at George Mason in which the team won two-of-three. Hofstra is out-hitting CAA teams, .333 to .121. In starting 12-2, Hofstra has allowed just 14 runs in those 14 conference games while scoring 86 runs.
The Pride has been remarkably consistent in league play since joining the America East in 1995, tallying a league record of 278-47, including 175-29 in the CAA. Hofstra has also compiled a 70-2-3 series record in the CAA. The worst conference record that the program has had since 1995 was 14-6 in 2006, which was still good for a .700 winning percentage.
Hofstra last lost a conference series in 2006 when Delaware took two-of-three at home. Since that series loss, Hofstra is 46-0 in CAA regular season series.
