St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Hofstra
St. John’s Set to Host Hofstra in Midweek Tilt
4/6/2026 3:11:00 PM | Softball
The Johnnies return to Queens after series victory over DePaul
QUEENS, N.Y. — The St. John's softball team returns to Red Storm Field on Tuesday afternoon to host local foe Hofstra. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m., with the contest streaming live on ESPN+ and live stats available on RedStormSports.com.
The Red Storm will look to snap a lengthy skid against the Pride in the midweek matchup. Hofstra holds a 38-12-1 advantage in the all-time series against St. John's, with the Johnnies' most recent win over the Pride coming in April of 2004.
St. John's enters Tuesday's contest following a series win at DePaul from April 2-4. The Red Storm captured the first two contests in run-rule fashion, the first time its claimed consecutive run rule victories since March 2025, when it defeated Georgetown, 12-2, in five innings on March 15 and Manhattan, 13-5, in five innings on March 18.
The Johnnies opened the weekend with a dominant 10-1 victory in five innings on April 2. Sarah Post powered the offense with the first home run of her career, launching a grand slam and finishing with four RBIs, while Jess Bianco tallied three hits, two runs and two RBIs in the victory.
St. John's followed with another run-rule win the next afternoon, defeating the Blue Demons, 8-0, in five innings. Bianco paced the offense with a perfect 3-for-3 outing and three RBIs, while Loreley Francia tossed a complete-game shutout with six strikeouts while allowing just one hit, the fewest surrendered by a Red Storm pitcher since Francia's no-hitter against Rider on Feb. 28, 2025.
Following the series, Bianco earned BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll recognition after batting .667 (6-for-9) with three runs scored and five RBIs across three starts. The senior continues to lead the BIG EAST with 58 hits while batting .419 on the season.
In the circle, Ana Serafinko remains one of the nation's most dominant pitchers. Through 38 games, the senior leads the BIG EAST in strikeouts, innings pitched and victories while ranking second in NCAA Division I with 196 strikeouts and 10th nationally in strikeouts per seven innings.
Francia has also been an elite presence in the circle for the Red Storm this season. The senior owns an 11-6 record with eight complete games and three shutouts and recorded the 500th strikeout of her career during St. John's contest at Iona on March 25.
As a staff, St. John's ranks ninth nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (7.79) and 23rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.39), both of which lead the BIG EAST. The Red Storm also rank 37th nationally with a 3.14 team ERA.
Offensively, St. John's ranks 50th nationally in triples per game while London Slade ranks 13th nationally in toughest to strike out. Slade's 48 hits are the second-most in the BIG EAST to go along with the Bowie, Md., native's .372 average.
The Red Storm are also tied for first nationally with one triple play this season alongside Boise State, Loyola Chicago, Yale and Grambling.
Hofstra enters Tuesday's matchup at 21-15 overall and 14-1 in CAA play after winning four of its first five conference series by sweep this season. The Pride most recently completed a sweep of Towson on April 5, highlighted by a complete-game shutout from Emma Falen in the series finale.
Following Tuesday's contest, the Red Storm will return to BIG EAST play this weekend when St. John's travels to Providence for a three-game conference series beginning April 10.
