Softball 2024

[triplec2195]

The season starts on Friday 2/16 while thinking about the weather here now seems crazy but playing on the campus at USF. HOFSTRA, UIC, BC,USF AND PURDUE. https://gohofstra.com/news/2024/2/14/ho ... tampa.aspx

[triplec2195]

We're of course the defending CAA champion and have been picked for 3rd. This is a testament to what Coach Clark has done here in two short years. We have 7 new freshmen coming in who all seem to have nice H.S. resumes. Last year we played the tournament without our best pitcher Haley Venturini who has had shoulder problems here at Hofstra. This is no snub of Julia Apsel who pitched great in the CAA tournament and pitched well against Oklahoma in the NCAA tourney. With Venturini healthy this team will be competitive even though quite young. Giordano will be missed along with her Home Run power. She now is a coach here. Good luck Pride!!

[stuball888]

this team will need some power hitters among those freshmen
Megans power will be missed..
Would like to see us score runs without needing 3 hits to get those runs across

[triplec2195]

So we win the first game of the yeAR 1-0 behind Julia Apsel's 5 hitter with 7 K's. A nice way to start the season although we only muster 4 hits. I think it's been a while since we won our first game of the season. Lets see how we play against BC.

[triplec2195]

I should have mentioned that UIC is now 0-8 but has played some close games.

[triplec2195]

BC beats us in the 2nd game of this doubleheader 4-1 losing pitcher Anna Butler who gives up all 4 runs but none earned on an error by Alanna Morse playing ss in this game a position she played in HS. Butler goes 2/3 of an inning Venturini in relief pitches 4 1/3 giving up 5 hits no runs and gets 2K's. Pisapia closes it out no runs. We only get 4 hits. Surprising we only see Villar a phenom from Connecticut to come in to pinch hit and strikes out.

[stuball888]

Remember Curt Villar is no longer in high school
this is D1 softball
She is now playing with the big girls
Give her time to adjust

[triplec2195]

Amen to that Stu. I'm anxious to see these women play and we got good news having Venturini back on the hill. Like everything else surrounding our programs nobody knew what her status was after being injured and not pitching in the second half of the season. I wonder if they limited her pitches and just shut her down last year. She didn't pitch after the A&T game where she pitched a 1 hitter.

[triplec2195]

Yesterday we lost a doubleheader to Bucknell 4-5 and 0-4. Pisapia gets the loss in the first and pitched pretty well going 6.2 giving up 3 runs with 6 K's. Haley gives up 2 runs pitching.1. Not a good outing for Haley who was wild 3 walks and a WP. Playing in Jersey right now has got to be tough. Second game we get shutout 4-0 Ogden gets the lost pitching 4.1 giving up 4 runs 2 earned. Venturini closes out the game pitching 2.2 not giving up any runs. As a team we're not hitting a lick except for Chelsea Manto who's hitting over 400 as the lead off hitter. It's very early yet and what's interesting is that Haley Venturini who's arguably our best pitcher is only pitching in a relief roll maybe because she's coming back of arm/shoulder injury!

[stuball888]

Like I said in previous posts I wonder where the power will come from
Yes we are getting base runners and atealing bases mistly thanks to Manto but its rare to steal home so again we need some power in the lineup

[Polito]

Bad losses, Bucknell stinks. Fair callout Stu, this team better find some hitting.

[stuball888]

Just found out we beat Bucknell today 8-4
Finally some hitting

[triplec2195]

Well that's good news. I couldn't get live updates??

[stuball888]

for some reason in New Jersey, there’s no live stats
Today with everybody having a cell phone I don’t understand how that’s possible

[stuball888]

so we played FDU in the nightcap today. We wind up losing 1-0
FDU had 11 hits but only one run
We managed only 3 hits and struck out 17 TIMES OUCH!

[Polito]

For goodness sake. That's an even worse loss than Bucknell. No reason for this, knew the team needed hitting, so what was done in the offseason to address? These programs aren't on HU's level. Raise the bar ladies.

I'm living vicariously through VT in many sports lately (just not their mens hoops lol yikes). Their softball and womens hoops are on absolute fire. Building and becoming national powerhouses. Quite impressive to see because years ago this was very far from the case.


Now I certainly don't expect HU there, different worlds, but HU softball should be better than these losses. C'mon Adrienne, gotta do better - can't lose to low end mids, this program may not be a national powerhouse, but it darn sure has a national pedigree. Get this program on track and rise up.

[triplec2195]

So after 12 games we're 2-10 some of those losses were 1-0 games pitched by Apsel who is the real deal. She pitched well last year and continues to pitch well. She's 1-3 with a 1.52 ERA. She lost to #2 Texas yesterday after keeping them scoreless for 4 innings and striking out 5. We desperately need Haley Venturini to get back to her form of last year where she pitched phenomenal at times throwing a 1 hitter at NC A&T AND STRIKING OUT 17 BATTERS IN two games versus Stony Brook. She got hurt and sat out a lot of games at the end of the season. She must still be rehabbing as she hasn't started a game yet this year and is pitching to an over 6 ERA. Also we're hitting .196 as a team with no one hitting over .300. Alanna Morse hasn't hit much and has made quite a few errors playing S.S. We have only hit 1 home run. We start CAA play against Towson on Friday.

[Polito]

.196 ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I mean that's bad news bears territory. C'mon HU. You can literally ACCIDENTALLY hit that %. You're not new to the game. Not counting any ranked opponent games, that's at least understandable and I don't expect anything unreasonable there... but you have to be better than this, esp vs the other poor teams you've played.

Like all coaches in their third year as head whistle, this is a big one Adrienne. This is the year your foundation should be producing results.

Plenty more season thankfully. But that number should embarrass the heck out of them and light some fires under some butts.

[triplec2195]

So went to the first home softball game against Drexel and watched really a pitchers duel with Julia Apsel just pitching out of trouble in this game. She gave up 8 hits and only 1 run which came in the first inning 1 walk and struck out 3. This wasn't vintage Apsel but she pitched well. Our hitting was non existent as we struck out 9X and only had 3 hits but one of those(1st inning) was a two run home run by Olivia Malinowski over the left centerfield wall. Other then that Drexel's pitcher threw a lot of off speed pitches and had us off stride and swinging at bad pitches. It was interesting to see some of the freshman play. We had a freshman at 3rd base, 2nd base and right field. All playing well. Nicole Cancel playing 2nd base was pinch hit for when it came time for her to bat(hitting 9th) and was replaced at second with Tyler Douglas who also hit for her. In the 7th inning Cancel went back in the game for defensive purposes. You have to love softball where players can come out of the game and later go back in. Crazy. Yes we won 2-1.

[triplec2195]

We win the series 2-1 as we beat Drexel yesterday 5-3. Once again Julie Apsel(5-3) pitches a nice game and goes the distance. She gave up 7 hits(generous scorer) had 3 K's and 1 walk. Really dominated this game until the top of the 6th when she gave up all three runs helped by some slopping fielding but no errors charged. Pitched well in the 7th inning. We had 8 hits highlighted by a 2 run home run off the bat of Becca Vaillancourt her third of the season. Contributions from the bench by Chelsea Villar and Gabby Sultan both driving in runs. After seeing some of these games I'm getting the feeling that some of our best hitters may not be the kids that r starting. We may be playing our best defensive team but not out most productive offensive team.