Columbia, Mo. – A matchup of All-America pitchers lived up the hype as Missouri's Chelsea Thomas threw a complete-game shutout and Hofstra's Olivia Galati allowed just one unearned run on a one-hitter in the hard-luck loss as the No. 6 overall seed Tigers defeated the Pride, 1-0, in the NCAA Columbia Regional on a sunny-but-humid Saturday afternoon at University Field.
Hofstra saw its 14-game winning streak end in the Pride falling to 44-12. The Pride will play the winner of the Oregon State-Stony Brook elimination game at 6 p.m. with the contest also on ESPN3. Missouri, which entered ranked eighth by the NFCA and sixth by ESPN, improved to 37-11 and moved into Sunday's championship round.
Senior Tessa Ziemba lined two hits for the second consecutive NCAA Tournament game and freshman leadoff hitter Chloe Fitzgerald also went 2-for-4 as Hofstra tagged Thomas for eight hits. The Pride left 10 on base and Emily Crane's RBI single in the third provided the only scoring.
Galati's only hit allowed came to Crane as the West Babylon, N.Y. did not allow an earned run in six innings in lowering her ERA to 1.31 but still fell to 38-11. Thomas improved to 23-4.
Hofstra put two runners on base in every inning from the fifth-through-seventh. Galati gave Hofstra its best chance to tie in the sixth. Freshman Caryn Bailey hit a two-out leadoff hard-hit single up the middle and stole second. Galati then ripped a single through the left side and Bailey was waved home before Nicole Hudson's strike to catcher Jenna Marston arrived well in time to tag the sliding Bailey for the final out.
The Pride had a final chance to tie in the seventh when senior Becca Bigler hit a leadoff single. Thomas got the last of her seven strikeouts, though Ziemba reached on a fielding error by Crane at second to keep the inning alive. Sophomore Erin Trippi gave Hofstra a chance when she drove a ball to deep right field before Carlie Rose caught it on the warning track to end the game.
The major storyline entering the second-ever matchup between Hofstra and Mizzou centered on a pair of All-America pitchers. Both right-handers won their respective conference Pitcher of the Year awards with Galati a four-time Colonial Athletic Association selection and Thomas the reigning the SEC Pitcher of the Year after being a two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year from 2011-12 prior to the Tigers changing conference affiliation.
Missouri opened the scoring in the third by pushing across an unearned run. Princess Krebs reached on a one-out fielding error and, after a sacrifice bunt turned the lineup over, leadoff batter Emily Crane lined a single up the middle to score the opening run. Crane's 26th RBI of the season was the only hit Galati allowed in the contest.
Galati was economical as the game progressed, needing just five pitches to get through the fourth. She needed just 59 pitches to log her 46th complete game of the season.
Hofstra loaded the bases and forced Thomas to throw 37 first-inning pitches but couldn't push through the opening run. Fitzgerald, who was one of two Hofstra players with a multi-hit game in the regional-opening victory over Oregon State, reached on an infield single before Tori Rocha walked and Ziemba singled to center.
Thomas escaped trouble by getting a force out at the plate before striking out Jess Hirschbuhl on nine pitches and fanning Maggie Hawkins on 10 pitches. Galati had an easier time in the opening inning, getting a 1-2-3 frame thanks to Bigler's great sliding catch in foul territory on Jenna Marston's pop up.
Hofstra once again had a chance to score when Fitzgerald reached on an infield single again with one out in the fifth. The speedy leadoff hitter got to first before any Missouri defender could cover and then alertly darted to second when the Tigers left that base unoccupied as well. Fitzgerald slid in front of the throw when shortstop Corrin Genovese got around to cover. Rocha worked a walk and a force out put runners on the corners with two outs.
But Thomas got the biggest of her total strikeouts when she forced Trippi to swing and miss, preserving Mizzou's 1-0 lead.
Galati allowed a walk to Genovese in the fifth, which ended a streak of 87 strikeouts since her last walk on April 25 against Long Island University.
