Heading into the 1988 New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association (NYSWCAA) Tournament, the State University of New York at New Paltz softball team was not expected to advance out of the first round, let alone make a run to the program's first State Championship title.
But despite the arduous road the team had in front of them, the Hawks overcame three behemoth
programs in SUNY Albany, Stony Brook University and Binghamton University, along with a key injury to their starting shortstop and lead-off hitter Jacqui Pesa, to pull off one the biggest triumphs in program history. And 30 years later, the team's legacy has only grown from that fateful state championship run, as they were inducted into the 2018 SUNY New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I guess you don't think about it at the time. But as you reflect on it, definitely it was a special team," said Michele Smith-Farro, who co-captained the Hawks in 1988 and 1989. "As I look around in my mind in the infield, there were some of the most talented kids I have ever played with individually on that team. It was honestly I think bigger than what we even knew. All of us together, the definition of synergy. We were in the middle of it, but we definitely didn't realize it."
The team had high expectations going into the season after finishing with a solid 16-7 record and third in both the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and the State Tournament the year before. However, there were doubts heading into the State Tournament. The Hawks failed to make SUNYACs, but their modest 12-6 regular season record earned them a spot in the NYSWCAA's, which was granted to just eight teams out of nearly 45 schools.
"I think we obviously had the talent," said former head coach Alan Dunefsky. "We had good chemistry on that team… We had to play the top-3 schools and beat them all. Brockport we lost to, but [in the tournament] Binghamton knocked off Brockport. We lost to Cortland and Stony Brook knocked off Cortland, so everything fell into place."
After defeating the Great Danes, 5-1, in the first round, the sixth-seeded Hawks went up against the Patriots (now Seawolves) and got down to an early 2-0 deficit before a storm postponed the game to the following day. The break was what the team needed to regroup, as they came back and trounced Stony Brook, 11-2, to advance to the championship game against the Bearcats.
"We were definitely a never say die team," said alumna Christine DeBaise, who also served as a two-year co-captain. "We had a lot of chemistry on the team and that was a big part for any team in anything. If you have chemistry, then it will show and manifest itself in the way that you play."
SUNY New Paltz lost twice to Binghamton University during the regular season, an 11-5 decision and then a tight 8-7 game in a double-header earlier in the year. In addition, the Hawks were without their senior captain, Pesa, who was batting .431 with 31 hits and 29 runs – which all ended up being team high's despite playing in two less games.
However, Dunefsky had faith in his freshman left fielder Michelle LaDuca, who stepped in and played like a veteran. Not only did she hold down the spot at short, but also delivered at the plate. She ended up finishing third on the team in batting average (.424), while adding 25 hits and 17 runs with 13 RBIs.
"That hurt. To lose Jackie at short and to lose her bat was, in the moment, seemed almost crippling," DeBaise said. "But [LaDuca] went in and was confident. She played a lot during the season… and it was just, 'this was my shot.' Michelle went out there and got the job done and we believed in her."
Although the odds were stacked against them, the Hawks remained confident from the moment they touched the field. Warm-ups, according to DeBaise, was one of the sharpest she could remember and that translated immediately once the game began.
"I will never forget the warm ups prior to the championship game when we were just firing on all cylinders," DeBaise recalled. "Alan, I remember him walking out there and he was tough on us when it came to warm ups, because that was his belief and we believed in it too. But, I swear we walked off that field after warm ups and we knew we were going to win that game."
SUNY New Paltz carried over its momentum and capped off its magical run, defeating the Bearcats on their home field, 7-4, to take home the State Tournament title.
"It was just totally awesome," Smith-Farro said. "Playing softball was really just, as I look back on it, in the lessons that we learned on that team, how to play on a team together, how to win together, how to lose together – all of those things are skills that you use in your daily life in business. To me, it was just awesome. Our team was smart. We had kids on the Dean's list. I feel like our team were students first and athletes second and it just happened that we excelled at both."
Looking back 30 years later, the 1988 SUNY New Paltz softball team still holds the only championship trophy in program history and boasts the best winning percentage in a single season, along with arguably the most talented roster the team has ever seen.
Smith-Farro, DeBaise and Pesa were all individually inducted into the SUNY New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame and combined the team features six first-team All-SUNYAC selections and three players to win the SUNY New Paltz's Carol Eckman Award for best female athlete, along with a Heinz Ahlmeyer honoree in DeBaise.
But as talented as the roster was, both Smith-Farro and DeBaise agreed, the credit goes to their head coach.
"What cannot go unnoticed is Coach Dunefsky," Smith-Farro said. "He is the best coach I have ever played for. I use a lot of his philosophies even today when I coach… He taught me the statistics behind softball and the theory of softball. Things that you don't think about unless you're like him and you're a student of the game. And that is what he is. He is absolutely a student of softball."
"It is very hard to win a championship that is for sure," DeBaise added. "We were a talented team, but you have to look at the coach. Coach D was all about playing smart. He cared so deeply about coaching… but not just about winning, he cared about us as individuals. His leadership, we rallied around him. He let us make fun of him at times. He was hard, but he was hard about us playing smart, executing. I think a lot of the credit for this championship goes to him."
When it Doesn't Pay to Phone
With her team seeded sixth out of eight teams in the 1988 NYSWCAA Tournament, State University of New York at New Paltz softball's Michele Smith-Farro wasn't sure if the Hawks would make it through the first round, and to spare her parents the trip and avoid the ill-fated weather heading up to SUNY Albany, she told them to stay home. A phone call Smith-Farro remembers vividly when looking back at her and her team's State Championship run.
"I remember calling my parents and saying, 'Listen, don't come to this field, because we're going to get knocked out in this first game,'" she recalled. "It was a two and a half hour ride and I remember the weather was raining and windy… so they didn't come."
Although SUNY New Paltz knocked off the Great Danes in the opening round, its chances seemed slim once again after going down by an early 2-0 deficit the following day against Stony Brook University. However, the tempestuous storm postponed the game until the next day and the resilient Hawks broke open the contest once play resumed, scoring 11 unanswered runs to advance to the next round.
"I remember calling my parents and telling them not to come up here. We had a half a game left. I just [didn't] think we were going to pull this off, and then we won," Smith-Farro said. "It wasn't like you could pick up your cell phone and say, 'Hey, get up here. I think we have a chance to win this thing.'"
The confidence in attaining the championship crown started to build, but again the Hawks were at odds facing host Binghamton University – a team which defeated them twice earlier in the year and this time around, SUNY New Paltz was without its captain at shortstop and lead-off hitter, Jacqui Pesa, who suffered an injury earlier in the tournament.
But with freshman Michele LaDuca filling in seamlessly at the position, the Hawks continued their magical run and defeated the Bearcats, 7-4 to take the championship crown.
After the win, Smith-Farro was a little anxious to make the phone call home to her parents and share the news. It was a moment they wish they could have shared, but never the less were excited to hear about the championship victory.
"I think they were happy we won of course, but they were like, 'We knew we should have come up there and just stayed the weekend. We knew you should have never let you talk us out of it,'" she said. "But the weather wasn't great too, so I didn't want them to come up. It was kind of funny, and I do remember kind of convincing them not to come when I should have just let them come."
And now, as a coach and a mom, Smith-Farro makes sure to make every game she can to witness her kids play no matter how much the odds are stacked against their teams.
"You have no idea," she said. "With my job right now, I will leave Baltimore, Maryland at four in the morning if I am on business travel to make a game. I go to every game, obviously. It would have to be an extreme circumstance [to miss a game]."
