Hempstead, NY – Hofstra senior pitcher Olivia Galati threw her fifth career perfect game, tying an NCAA record, as the Hofstra Softball team advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title game with an 8-0 victory over James Madison on Thursday afternoon at Hofstra Softball Stadium.
The top-seeded Pride (42-11) defeated second-seeded JMU (40-14) in six innings as the contest ended due to the run-rule.
In a career that simply becomes more and more astounding with each passing outing, Galati has now thrown five career perfect games, 12 career no-hitters, 20 shutouts this season and her scoreless inning streak has now reached 36 1/3 innings. The five career perfect games are now tied with Jen Mineau of Fordham for first all-time in NCAA history and her 20 shutouts and 370 strikeouts both lead all of NCAA Division I softball this season. Her 36 wins also lead the nation. The perfect game was also the first in CAA Softball Championship history.
Hofstra advances to the CAA Championship game, which will take place on Friday at 1 p.m. The Pride's opponent in the title game will be determined after the remainder of today's play.
Hofstra would get on the board first, pushing a run across in the third inning as Galati started the frame with a single and advanced to second on an error by the JMU centerfielder. The Pride would then have runners at the corners as Chloe Fitzgerald bounced a single right in front of the catcher and beat the throw to first to give Hofstra its first real scoring opportunity of the contest. After a strike out, Tessa Ziemba came up big as she singled up the middle to score Galati with the first run of the day. Ziemba continued her strong play at the CAA Championship as she had a pair of RBIs in the Pride's 6-0 win over Towson on Wednesday.
Hofstra would break the game open in the fourth inning as Galati once again played a major role on the offensive side of things. With the bases loaded, Galati came to the plate and lined a single to left field that scored a pair of runs to make it 3-0 Hofstra.
After Miranda came in to pitch for the Dukes, Hofstra showcased more of its offensive prowess as Ziemba drilled a home run to left center to make it 6-0 in favor of the home team after Caryn Bailey had scored on the previous at bat via a wild pitch.
The Pride would add a run in the fifth as Bailey tripled to center to drive in Becca Bigler, who led the inning off with a walk. After Galati struck out the side in order in the sixth, the Pride ended the game with a run in the bottom of the inning as a hit batter and two singles loaded the bases with one out and Jess Hirschbuhl came through with a single that scored Tori Rocha with the final run.
Galati fanned 10 batters and needed just 62 pitches to improve to 36-10 on the year. Heather Kiefer took the loss for James Madison, falling to 14-7 after allowing five runs on five hits in three innings.
Ziemba finished with three hits and three RBIs on the day, while Galati added a pair of hits and runs on the afternoon as well.
