Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The State University of New York at New Paltz softball team continued its hot start on Monday at the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic, sweeping a tripleheader. The Hawks downed Spalding (Ky.) University by scores of 6-3 and 6-2 in a doubleheader before capping off the day with a 3-2 victory over the College of Mount Saint Vincent.
 
New Paltz rises to 5-0 overall with the wins and takes on Salem College next on Tuesday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the University of North Carolina's Anderson Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. Spalding drops to 2-2, while Mount Saint Vincent falls to 0-4.
 
New Paltz 6, Spalding (Ky.) 3
 
Despite falling behind, 3-2, in the fifth, the Hawks responded with a four-run sixth inning to pull out a 6-3 victory.
 
After three scoreless frames of play, junior designated player Nicole DeCosta (Stormville, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) gave New Paltz a 2-0 lead with a two-run double to right field. Spalding leveled the score in the home half of the inning, though, with two runs ultimately coming across on a triple by junior third baseman Becca Mouser.
 
The Golden Eagles seized the advantage in the fifth, as junior designated player Kelci Flener drove in junior right fielder Shelby Kilgore with a sacrifice fly to left.
 
Sophomore first baseman Kiersten Carlomagno (Commack, N.Y./Commack) tied the score in the top of the sixth on a squeeze play, and after an error, senior catcher Shayna Burgess (Smithtown, N.Y./Commack) came around to score to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead. Later on in the inning, freshman second baseman Jessica Lodato (Commack, N.Y./Commack) pushed across senior third baseman Meg Brewer (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) with a double to left center, while Lodato came home on an RBI base knock by sophomore pitcher Taylor Corwin (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh).
 
New Paltz was able to hold Spalding scoreless down the stretch, giving the Hawks the game-one win.
 
Freshman right fielder Julia Perhacs (Robbinsville, N.J./Robbinsville) led the Hawk attack by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Kilgore went a perfect 3-for-3 to ignite the Golden Eagle bats.
 
After earning a save in Sunday's second game, Corwin picked up the win in the circle during the Hawks' first game against Spalding, yielding three runs (two earned) off five hits, two walks and a hit by pitch while striking out three. Spalding's sophomore pitcher Courtney Miller allowed six runs off seven hits and a walk while striking out three.
 
New Paltz 6, Spalding (Ky.) 2
 
New Paltz used another four-run inning in game two to propel itself to the win, scattering 10 hits throughout the contest.
 
Junior shortstop Jordan Fiore (Mount Sinai, N.Y./Mount Sinai) opened scoring in the home half of the second for the Hawks, ripping an RBI double to right field to score Lodato.
 
Fiore kick started New Paltz's fourth-inning tear, pushing across Lodato with a single up the middle, while Burgess plated freshman right fielder Danielle Bruno (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) with a sacrifice fly to center field. Fiore ended up coming around on a Golden Eagle error on that same play. Freshman first baseman Lauren Cappello (New City, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) rounded out scoring for the inning when she scored on an error.
 
Freshman right fielder Kaylin Rucker and senior left fielder Brooke Conder knocked out back-to-back RBI singles for Spalding in the fifth to draw the Golden Eagles within three, but sophomore pinch hitter/first baseman Tierney Hornbeck (Albany, N.Y./Albany) tacked on an insurance run for the Hawks in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.
 
Fiore batted 3-for-3 with two RBI, two stolen bases, a double and a run scored, while Lodato (2-for-2, two runs scored), Cappello (2-for-3, one run scored, one double) and Spriggs (2-for-3, one stolen base) also had multi-hit outings for New Paltz.
 
For Spalding, sophomore first baseman Brooke Lamon went 2-for-3 with one run scored.
 
Carlomagno earned the win in the circle for New Paltz, allowing two runs off five hits and a walk while striking out three in five innings of work. Senior pitcher Erika Traina (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) was credited with her second save in as many days, as she threw two scoreless innings of relief and scattered two hits while striking out three. Freshman pitcher Robyn Schoen was saddled with the loss for Spalding, allowing six runs (four earned) off 10 hits and two walks while striking out five.
 
New Paltz 3, Mount Saint Vincent 2
 
Perhacs' 3-for-4 outing at the plate allowed New Paltz to pull out the tripleheader sweep in the nightcap.
 
The Dolphins struck first in the second inning, as freshman second baseman Mackenzie Heizer scored on an error. Following a scoreless third, Cappello tied the score at 1-all after scoring on a passed ball in the fourth, while Perhacs also crossed on a passed ball, doing so in the fifth.
 
A Perhacs RBI single in the top of the sixth gave New Paltz much-needed breathing room, as the Dolphins benefited from a Hawk throwing error in the home half of the inning to pull within one. Despite hitting two batters in the bottom of the seventh, New Paltz escaped with the win, as a groundout to first ended the game.
 
In addition to Perhacs' performance at the plate, two other Hawks came up with hits. Five different Dolphins reached base safely by means of base knocks.
 
Rutcofsky gave up just two unearned runs off five hits and two hit by pitches while striking out four in the winning effort. Senior pitcher Kathleen Davis shouldered the loss for Mount Saint Vincent, yielding three runs (one earned) off five hits, six walks and one hit by pitch while striking out four.