Check out the nation’s leaders in team statistics like OPS and batting average, and the top 25 features some familiar names: UCLA, Florida, Arizona, reigning national champion Oklahoma. 

Among that group is also Drexel. 

The Dragons are mashing with the best of ‘em. And the bats could swing Drexel right into the NCAA Tournament. 

Drexel rides its wave of momentum into an important swing in CAA conference play—a quartet of Drexel, Delaware, UNC Wilmington and Hofstra are currently leading the charge for the automatic bids into the postseason. 

Among the league, Drexel has been far-and-away the best at the plate. 

The Dragons are the lone CAA team with a collective batting average above .300, a bar they have cleared with ease at .318. That’s also just .02 behind Virginia Tech, a top-four ranked squad with national championship aspirations. 

Likewise, Drexel leads the CAA in on-base percentage at .409. Nationally, that ranks one spot behind Alabama and outpaces perennial powerhouse Arizona. 

The secret to the Dragons’ success? It starts at the top. 

Drexel boasts two of the top three batters in the CAA in terms of average, and three of the top nine: Kristi DiMeo (.461), Jackie Masone (.405) and Grace Abbonizo (.373). 

DiMeo ranks 13th among all Div. I hitters with her Herculean average, and her 53.7 on-base percentage is No. 23 in Div. I. 

She led a rally from down 7-0 in non-conference play April 5 against Marist, going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI. 

A preseason D1Softball.com honoree as one of the nation’s top 150 players, DiMeo is building a significant case for All-American recognition at season’s end. 

DiMeo has always been one of the premier hitters in the CAA, currently on a course for her fourth full season hitting .399 or better. Last year, she hit .429 with 11 home runs—the latter down a bit from the previous full campaign in which she knocked out 18, but impressive all the same. 

This year, DiMeo has five home runs but has drawn more base-on-balls a game than in previous seasons. So while opposing pitchers are giving her less round-trip opportunities, she’s connecting on more of the hittable pitches and getting on base with greater regularity overall. 

Having a consistent lineup around her certainly helps. 

The fourth Dragon batting better than .300 on the season, is also among the nation’s more prolific home-run hitters. Ashley Errico is second in the CAA with nine home runs, with one of the more recent in the category of most exciting game-ending at-bats: a walk-off grand slam. 

@NCAASoftball @espnW @CAASports
Walk-off grand slam by Ashley Errico in the bottom of the 9th #FearTheDragon🐉🔥 pic.twitter.com/CSpuosEZo6

— Drexel Softball (@DrexelSoftball) March 30, 2022

Just how far the bats can carry Drexel will be revealed in the coming weeks as CAA competition intensifies. The cluster at the top through the first few weeks suggests a tight race for the rest of the spring. 

Given the company Drexel keeps in its statistical output from the plate, however, it’s fair to suggest the Dragons may emerge as a team to beat come tournament time.