Hofstra wins CAA softball title

Junior shortstop Becca Bigler slammed a pair of home runs while junior pitcher/designated player Olivia Galati allowed just one hit and had a three-run home run of her own to lead the Hofstra softball team to the 2012 Colonial Athletic Association championship with a 9-1 victory over Georgia State last Saturday afternoon at Hofstra Softball Stadium.

With the victory, Hofstra earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and improved to 38-13 with the win, while Georgia State fell to 38-18 with the loss. Hofstra, which has now won 17 consecutive games and 36 of its last 38 contests, won a CAA title for the ninth time in 11 years since joining the conference. Overall, Hofstra will be making its 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament with all of them coming under the tutelage of head coach Bill Edwards. It is also the 17th tournament championship an Edwards-led team has won at Hofstra.

The Pride, which went 19-0 in the regular season, will enter the NCAA Regionals winners of all 22 games against conference opponents this season. That marks the first time Hofstra has finished a regular season and tournament slate undefeated (the 1996 and 1997 squads did it in the regular season.)

Bigler was stellar throughout as she ended the contest a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored.  Galati's lone hit in the contest was a big one as the home run in the fourth scored three and put the Pride in position to close out the game in the fifth inning due to the run-rule.

In the pitching circle, Galati (30-5) retired the last 14 batters she faced in the one-hitter, allowing only one walk while striking out 10. She now has 331 strikeouts this season in just 232 2/3 innings, moving 17 strikeouts away from her own school single-season record of 348. She now has 973 career strikeouts and needs just six more to tie Kayleigh Lotti's career record. 

Fittingly, Galati established a new single season record for wins while extending her remarkable streak of not allowing an earned run came to 44 1/3 innings before GSU scored the first-inning run. But Galati settled down to continue her dominance this season. Galati now holds the top two single season records for wins with 30 this season and 29 in 2011.

The home runs were the 10th and 11th of the season for Bigler, while Galati smacked her fourth of 2012.  Hofstra also got a long distance blast from senior third baseman Krista Thorn, who hit her seventh home run of the season in the first inning to kick-start the Pride's run to the title run.

Galati was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, while Bigler, Thorn and sophomore second baseman Tori Rocha joined her on the all-tournament squad for the Pride. The tournament honor for Galati was the second of her career.