Hofstra University

Hofstra University Softball
(PEC) Mack Phys Ed Ctr - 230 Hofstra Univ Hempstead, NY 115492300

Division 1 New York Northeast

Private Large National competitor

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Coaches

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Adrienne Clark

Adrienne Clark '05 was named the head coach of the Hofstra Softball program in July 2021, and is entering her second season with the Pride in 2023.

Clark impressed during her first head coaching stint in 2022, as she posted a 13-6 Colonial Athletic Association record and clinched the No. 2 seed in the CAA Championship, marking the best CAA mark for the Pride since 2018. Four Hofstra student-athletes earned All-CAA recognition during Clark's rookie season, including Chelsea Manto (first team), Meghan Giordano (first team), Amanda Maffucci (second team), and Julia Apsel (all-rookie team). In addition, Manto (first team), Giordano (third team) and Maffucci (third team) all went on to collect NFCA All-Northeast Region honors. In addition, Giordano and Devyn Losco collected CoSIDA Academic All-District® honors.

Prior to Hofstra, Clark has brought extensive coaching experience having coached at five different NCAA Division I institutions during her 16-year coaching career. Before arriving in Hempstead as head coach, Clark was an assistant coach at Purdue University for the last two seasons. Clark helped the Boilermakers to 33 wins while on staff in West Lafayette, Indiana. She oversaw and directed the team’s defensive strategies and helped facilitate all operations of the program.

Prior to that, Clark spent five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut. With Clark on staff with the Huskies, UConn increased its win total from the previous year in four of her five seasons and had nine different honorees on postseason American Athletic Conference teams. Clark served as Connecticut’s head pitching and catching coach during her tenure in Storrs.

Clark previously spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Hofstra from 2012 to 2014. During that time, the Pride advanced to the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons, including as Colonial Athletic Association Champions in 2012 and 2013. The 2012 team is most remembered for its remarkable run to the NCAA Super Regionals, winning 42 games and capturing the NCAA Los Angeles Regional along the way.

Clark got her coaching career started at the University of Delaware, where she spent four seasons (2006 to 2009). She oversaw all pitching development and helped guide three players to All-CAA honors and the staff to the lowest earned run average in the league in 2006. She then made the move to Columbia University in New York, New York, where she spent two seasons. Nine players under her tutelage garnered All-Ivy League accolades and she also served as an associate professor of physical education.

An exceptional two-way player during her playing career, Clark’s name is littered throughout the Hofstra record books as she is seventh in pitching appearances (97), eighth in earned run average (1.77), eighth in innings pitched (407.2), ninth in wins (39), and ninth in strikeouts (260). Clark also totaled 71 hits during her stellar career, including a 2004 campaign in which she ranked second on the team with a .305 batting average.

The 2003 Hofstra softball team captured a pair of wins in the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time that the Pride had ever picked up two wins in NCAA Tournament play. The exceptional 2004 season would see Hofstra win four games in NCAA Tournament play and fall one win shy of advancing to the WCWS. The Pride won games against #12 Auburn and #7 Stanford at the NCAA Regional, with the win over Stanford marking the second-highest ranked opponent the program had ever defeated to that point.

Clark also trained with the United States Bobsled & Skeleton Federation for three years (2011-14) as she attempted to qualify for the Olympic Games as a skeleton athlete.

Clark earned her Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in marketing, from Hofstra in 2005. She received her Master of Science in sports management from Columbia.

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Kristyn Sandberg

Kristyn Sandberg joined the Hofstra softball staff as an assistant coach in September 2021.

Sandberg brings a wealth of experience across several levels of softball to Hofstra, having coached at the high school and college level, while also playing professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch league. Selected fifth overall in the 2012 NPF Draft by the USSSA Pride, Sandberg played for the Pride from 2012-14, Pennsylvania Rebellion from 2015-16, Texas Charge in 2017, and Chicago Bandits from 2018-19.

A two-time NPF Champion, Sandberg appeared in over 300 games in the NPF and was a consistent threat throughout her career as she recorded over 45 home runs and tallied 150 RBI. For her efforts, Sandberg collected several awards from the league including NPF/Miken Rookie of the Year accolades in 2012, All-NPF honors in 2015 and 2018, was a Rawlings Gold Glove Finalist in 2017, and most recently, earned an NPF All-Decade Team distinction.

Sandberg, a local native of Island Park, spent her undergraduate career at the University of Georgia and was named a second-team NFCA All-American after garnering first-team All-Region honors. She played a key role in leading the Bulldogs to the Women's College World Series in 2009 and 2010 while earning SEC All-Freshmen Team honors in 2009 and First Team All-SEC recognition in 2012. Sandberg completed her collegiate playing career ranked in the top-10 in several offensive categories, including home runs (fourth), slugging percentage (sixth) and walks (fifth).

Having spent time at Louisiana State University as a graduate assistant and Syracuse University as an assistant coach, she brings several years of collegiate coaching experience to Hempstead. Sandberg spent three seasons on the LSU staff, including the Tigers 2015 run to the Women's College World Series. At Syracuse, Sandberg worked specifically with catchers and outfielders, was the assistant hitting coach, and helped the Orange achieve several single-season program records including fielding percentage, batting average, hits, and on-base percentage. Under her tutelage, six players garnered NFCA All-Region honors, while in 2017, Sandberg mentored an NFCA third team All-American and USA Player of the Year Top-10 finalist in Sydney O'Hara.

Sandberg most recently made a stop as the head varsity softball coach at nearby Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead. Ranked #17 in New York State, Sandberg guided seven All-Catholic League selections, two All-State honorees, two All-Long Island Selections, while six players were featured on Newsday's Top-100 players from Long Island.

A standout student and member of the community, Sandberg was a four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and was named to the 2012 SEC Community Service Team. She received CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second team honors and was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Sandberg earned her undergraduate degree in health and physical education in December 2012 and her master's degree in kinesiology from LSU in 2015.

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Meghan Giordano

Meghan Giordano has joined the Hofstra softball coaching staff as an assistant coach in August 2023.

Giordano enjoyed a five-year playing career with the Pride from 2019-23, culminating in winning the program’s first CAA title since 2018 and a trip to the NCAA Softball Championship. Giordano finished her career as second in Hofstra history in walks (111), third in RBIs (162), fourth in home runs (37), and 10th in doubles (39) in a career, while she tallied a .323 career batting average and totaled 189 hits in 198 career games. Giordano also ranks third for most RBIs (53, 2019) and fifth in home runs (15, 2023) in a season in program history, and she is in a four-way tie for the most walks in a game in Hofstra softball history with four.

Giordano was named All-CAA Second Team in 2023, and she was previously named All-CAA First Team in 2022 and 2019. In addition, Giordano was named National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region Third Team in 2019, 2022, and 2023, and she was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2023 CAA Championship after hitting .444 (8-18) with two home runs and seven RBIs, with both home runs coming against Towson in the deciding games of the CAA Championship.

A four-year member of Hofstra’s Colonel E. David Woycik Pride Leadership Academy, Giordano was also a star in the classroom as she was honored as a four-time NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete, and she was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team in 2022. Additionally, Giordano was named to the Hofstra Athletic Director Scholars Academic Honor Roll every semester during her time at Hofstra, and she was a four-time Hofstra University Dean’s List honoree.

Paired with Giordano’s extensive success as a student-athlete at Hofstra is her experience as a youth coach. Giordano has been an athletic performance trainer for TC Futures Club Softball since 2016, where she tailored coaching curriculums for softball players ages 8-18, and she has coaches at numerous camps and skills clinics since 2014.

Giordano received her bachelor’s degree in physical education from Hofstra in May 2022, and she is expected to receive her master’s degree in health education in 2024.

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Ophir Sadeh

Ophir Sadeh joined the Hofstra softball coaching staff as an assistant coach in January 2023.

Sadeh brings a wealth of softball coaching experience at the collegiate and high school level to the Hofstra softball program. He recently spent two seasons as an assistant coach at New York University from 2019 through 2021, where he was responsible for working with the Violets pitchers and catchers, as well as assisting with infield coaching, recruiting, scouting reports, and practice/game preparations. At NYU, he helped coach numerous student-athletes to conference and regional honors, including National Fastpitch Coaches Association Second Team All-Northeast honors for Diana King and Third Team honors for Ashley Mains.

This will not be Sadeh’s first experience on a Hofstra softball staff, as he was a volunteer assistant with the Pride under legendary head coach and Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bill Edwards from 2002-09.

Prior to joining NYU, Sadeh coached at Adelphi University from 2013-18 initially as an assistant coach before being named the Associate Head Coach in 2015. At Adelphi, Sadeh’s responsibilities included recruiting and working with the team’s pitchers, catchers, and infielders. Sadeh helped lead the Panthers to back-to-back Women’s College World Series appearances in 2015 and 2016, and he helped guide the team to Northeast-10 Conference Tournament titles in 2013, 2017, and 2018, and he won two NFCA East Region Coaching Staff of the Year awards with the Panthers in 2015 and 2016.

In addition to his time in college softball, Sadeh was an assistant coach on the varsity softball team at Smithtown West High School from 2011-13, and has worked at many collegiate skills clinics such as Elite Collegiate Skills and RiseBall Camps.

Sadeh graduated from Hofstra in 2004 with a degree in physical education, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts from Stony Brook in 2006.