The Hofstra Softball program added to its legacy of success with another storybook season in 2008, winning a school-record 45 games, capturing the Colonial Athletic Association regular season and postseason titles, and reaching the NCAA Regional finals for the third time in the last five years.
Hofstra finished the season with a 45-13 record, breaking the previous record for wins (43), which was set in 2005. The Pride began the year with a 7-7 record in its first 14 games, then compiled a 38-6 record over its last 44 contests.
The Pride's CAA Tournament title marked the 11th consecutive year that it has won its league championship, extending its own NCAA Division I record. Hofstra has won all seven CAA titles since joining the league was founded in 2002, after previously winning its final four America East Conference titles from 1998-2001. The old NCAA record had been nine straight titles, set by UMass in the Atlantic 10 from 1995-2003, before Temple ended the streak by winning the 2004 Atlantic 10 championship. The incoming freshmen on next season's team will have been in Kindergarten the last time that Hofstra did not win its conference championship.
Hofstra also won either a regular season or a postseason title for the 17th straight year, dating back to the 1992 season in the East Coast Conference. That was the third season in the tenure of Head Coach Bill Edwards, who raised his career record to 695-330-3 this spring and earned the CAA Coach of the Year Award.
The Pride's senior class of shortstop Pam Dreslinski (Kingsville, OH - pictured at left), third baseman Genevieve Haney (Levittown, PA - center) and pitcher/designated player Courtney Oliver (Swansea, MA - right) became the winningest class in school history with 166 wins in four years, compiling a 166-64 record. This year's class helped set a new school record for wins in a season as freshmen with 43, and then break that record as seniors with 45. The old school record for career wins in a class had been 159, set last year, making this year's class the first to average 40 wins a season.
Several other school records fell this season as well. The Pride had the best defensive team in school history, tallying a .979 fielding percentage, which ranked in the top five in the nation out of almost 300 schools. The old school record had been just .971. The Hofstra pitching staff also recorded 23 shutouts, breaking the school reocrd of 21 which had been set in 1993 and 1995. Junior Kayleigh Lotti (South Attleboro, MA) recorded 14 of those shutouts on her own, including a one-hitter in the CAA championship game (a 3-0 win over James Madison) and a three-hitter in a 1-0 win over Long Island in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Lotti also broke the school's career strikeout record as only a junior, breaking the mark in a six-inning perfect game against Drexel on April 18. She ended the year with 241 strikeouts, increasing her career total to 743, more than 100 past the old school record of 638, which was held by Stacy Jackson (1992-95).
In addition to its pitching and defensive records, the Pride also set new records on the basepaths. As a team, Hofstra stole 77 bases on the year (in 89 attempts), breaking the old record for a season of 69, set in 2006. Sophomore outfielder Kris Root (Waynesboro, PA) set the individual record for stolen bases in a season with 26, barely holding off junior second baseman Casey Fee (Long Beach, NY), who finished a perfect 25-25. Dating back to last year, Fee has a new school record for consecutive successful stolen base attempts with 28, which will carry over into next year. Junior center fielder Erika Bernstein (Somerville, NJ) also chipped in with 15 stolen bases, which ties for the sixth-highest single-season total at Hofstra.
Offensively, sophomore first baseman Michele DePasquale (Waterford, NJ) set a new school record for the longest hitting streak, reaching safely in 25 straight games from March 22-May 3. The old record of 18 had stood since All-American Crystal Boyd set the mark with 18 games in a row in 1993. DePasquale led Hofstra in hitting this season with a .363 batting average and did not commit an error all season in 379 chances at first base.
Dreslinski and Oliver ended their careers in the top 10 on the Pride's career RBI list. Dreslinski finished her four seasons with 120 RBI (30 this season), which ranks her eighth in Hofstra history, while Oliver had 117 (40 this season) to place her ninth. They each added memorable home runs to their legacy as well, with Oliver hitting a walk-off two-run shot in the 11th inning in the CAA championship round against James Madison, and Dreslinski hitting a solo shot in a 1-0 win over LIU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Dreslinski's homer marked the fourth NCAA Tournament game in a row that she had homered in, after also hitting a round-tripper in all three games of the 2007 NCAA Regionals (including a ninth-inning walk-off homer in a 3-2 win over Harvard).
Hofstra's season came to an end with a 5-0 defeat to two-time defending national champion Arizona on Sunday at Hofstra Softball Stadium. The Pride pushed the Wildcats in the early innings, though, as DePasquale ripped a line drive with the bases loaded and two outs in the third that took a diving catch from left fielder Brittany Lastrapes to keep Hofstra from getting an early 2-0 lead. Lastrapes than broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth, when her fly ball into right-center fell just in front of the dive of Bernstein.
The Pride's success also earned it plenty of postseason honors, as seven players were named to the All-CAA team (including six first-teamers), while five were named to the All-Mid Atlantic Region team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (including three first-teamers). Lotti was named the CAA Pitcher of the Year for the second year in a row and was a first-team All-Mid Atlantic selection for the third year in a row. Fee earned first-team All-CAA honors and first-team All-CAA accolades, while Dreslinski earned first-team All-Mid Atlantic honors and second-team All-CAA honors.
Bernstein and DePasquale were both first-team All-CAA and second-team All-Mid Atlantic, while Oliver and freshman utility/pitcher Sara Michalowski (Philadelphia, PA) were named first-team All-CAA. Dreslinski, Root, junior catcher Carolann Lubach (Langley, WA) and junior pitcher Joanna Kralowetz (Mt. Airy, MD) were honored with Academic All-District selections from the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA).
Looking ahead to next year, the Pride loses two of its top hitters in Oliver and Dreslinski, and the left side of the infield from the best defensive team in school history in Haney and Dreslinski. Hofstra also loses Oliver from its pitching rotation after she finished 10-3 with a 1.12 ERA this season, including 5-0 with an 0.24 ERA in conference games.
However, the Pride does return the ace of its staff in Lotti (23-6, 1.46 ERA), its three-year starting catcher in Lubach, its top four hitters in terms of batting average (DePasquale, Fee, Root, Michalowski), and its top three stolen base threats (Root, Fee, Bernstein). Michalowski (8-3, 1.35 ERA) and Kralowetz (4-1, 0.56 ERA) return in the pitching circle to add to the depth behind Lotti, while the outfield of Bernstein, Root, and junior Melissa Hodge (Hamilton, NJ) returns in tact. Sophomore Stefanie Feinstein (West Chester, PA), who had two pinch-hit home runs this season, could be ready to step into a full-time role in the Pride line-up, while freshman Trisha Dreslinski (Kingsvile, OH) is expected to take over for her older sister at shortstop.
