Box Score Hempstead, N.Y. – Olivia Galati struck out 13 in a complete-game shutout and junior Tori Rocha lined a game-ending RBI single to center to score Chloe Fitzgerald as Hofstra won the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title with a 1-0 nine-inning victory over Towson on Saturday afternoon at Hofstra Softball Stadium.
Galati, who was one of seven seniors honored before Hofstra's final regular season game, threw 106 of her 120 pitches for strikes to give the Pride a chance to win its longest game of the season. Rocha's two-out, two-strike single off Towson's Katie Lingmai gave the Pride a three-game sweep in the series.
Hofstra (40-11, 18-2 CAA) extended its winning streak to 10 and finished a half-game ahead of James Madison for the first place and the right to host the CAA Tournament that runs from May 8-10. Towson fell to 29-26-1 and 11-10.
Hofstra won the league's regular season crown for the 11th time in the 12 seasons the program has competed in the CAA. Galati improved to 34-10 by picking up her Division I-leading 18th shutout. The West Babylon, N.Y. native tied a season high with her third outing of 13 strikeouts. She leads the nation with 352 strikeouts in 287 innings.
Galati and Lingmai exchanged zeros until the ninth. Freshman Maggie Hawkins was hit by a pitch with one out and Fitzgerald hit into a fielder's choice with Hawkins out at second. Fitzgerald then used her speed to steal second base, which proved pivotal when Rocha lined a full-count single to center to score the winning run easily. Lingmai was the hard-luck loser in falling to 17-14 despite holding Hofstra to six hits and striking out six in 8 2/3 innings.
An emotional day featured a ceremony as Hofstra honored seniors Galati, Jess Hirschbuhl, Becca Bigler, Tessa Ziemba, D.J. Slugh, Rachael Senatore and Nicole Osovski. The septet has helped Hofstra post a 167-51 record since 2010, including a 74-5 record in regular season CAA play.
The Class of 2013 notched their fourth 40-win season in helping Hofstra to the extra-innings victory.
Hofstra looked to open the scoring in the second when two walks and dropped fly ball in center loaded the bases with one out. But Lingmai got a pop out and ended the threat with a force out to keep the game scoreless.
After allowing an infield single to start the game, Galati retired the next eight batters. Towson didn't put a runner in scoring position until the fourth when Delanie Dunham reached on an infield single and Macie McGeehan hit a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third with one away. Galati responded by forcing Bina Abbott to pop out before getting Catie Barber to ground out to first to end the threat. In all, Hofstra left 10 on base and Towson stranded seven.
Galati pitched out of a jam in the sixth. Dunham and Jillian Donnelly hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. A foul out and a fly out to right put runners on the corners before Galati got Barber to foul out to first.
As the game progressed, Galati seemed to grow stronger. She ended the contest retiring 12 consecutive batters from the sixth-through-ninth, striking out five in her final three innings.
Galati nearly gave Hofstra the lead at the plate in the sixth. Hirschbuhl drew a leadoff walk, and, following two fly outs, Galati pulled a 1-2 pitch down the leftfield line for a double. Hirschbuhl, who was running on contact, tried to score from first. Towson leftfielder Kelli Lyons made a perfect throw to cutoff-man Hailey Balk, who fired an on-target relay to Jillian Donnelly at the plate to get Hirschbuhl with the inning-ending out.
Hofstra will open the CAA Tournament as the top seed on Wednesday. James Madison (second seed), Delaware and Towson comprise the rest of the field. Check back to GoHofstra.com for dates and matchups.
