SALEM, Va. – Senior first baseman Kaitlyn Hasty has become well known in NCAA Division III softball for her power hitting, leading the nation in home runs this year and setting a new Christopher Newport University career record for long balls. Monday afternoon, the three-time All-American hit perhaps the biggest of her career, a grand slam in the fifth inning, that helped propel the Captains to a 6-3 victory over Trine University.
The Captains, now 46-1 and riding their second 23-game winning streak of the season, captured the first game of a best-of-three final series with the Thunder at the Moyer Sports Complex. The teams will meet again Tuesday morning at 11:00 a.m., and possibly again at 1:30 p.m. if necessary to decide the National Champion.
Hasty, from Chesapeake, turned the Memorial Day matinee in CNU’s favor when she came to the plate with the bases full in the fifth inning with the game tied at 2-2. She crushed a 2-1 pitch from Trine starter Adrienne Rosey deep down the left field line, clearing the fence for her 19th home run of the season, and 53rd of her career. It was also Hasty’s first dinger since May 6th when she went deep against Salisbury in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Captains Park.