Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 New Paltz, NY – On Thursday, leading up to the State University of New York at New Paltz softball team's first conference weekend of the season coach Krysti Maronski and her staff talked to junior third baseman Meagan Blair about her approach at the plate, and what pitches she should look to swing at. Blair, in a slight slump offensively before the weekend's slate of games, took the advice and coolly delivered at the plate to lead her team with six hits, two runs scored and three RBI's in the Hawks (12-5 overall, 3-1 SUNYAC) sweep over The College at Brockport (7-5, 0-2) Saturday.

"She had a great day," Maronski said. "We talked on Thursday little things in her swing and about what pitch she's actually good at hitting and I think that today and yesterday she was really able to attack those pitches rather than the ones that were getting her out before." 
Blair's afternoon was highlighted by a clutch RBI double in game one that rallied her team to an eventual extra-inning 4-3 walk off. That victory then helped SUNY New Paltz carry the momentum into game two where it closed out on a 7-4 win.

"It means a lot to us," Blair said. "We've been working really hard and we really needed these SUNYAC wins to make it to the finals and every single win counts. We swept today and it means a lot to us."

The Golden Eagles took the initial lead to open up game one in the top of the first. With runners on, Jessica Koneski worked a long at-bat, fouling off several pitches by the Hawks' Katie Quagliana before blasting a two-run bases clearing RBI double to the center field fence to give her team the 2-0 lead. Quagliana quickly regrouped and got out of the inning after a strikeout and groundout the following two at-bats.

Brockport tacked on a run to its lead in the top of the sixth inning, as Morgan Flamholtz re-entered the game and on the very first pitch she saw, ripped a liner to shallow center for an RBI single. Again, Quagliana limited the scoring there. She forced a fly-out on the ensuing pitch and then registered another groundout to get out of the inning.

The Hawks answered in the bottom of the inning, but had several opportunities earlier in the game to gain control. They left bases loaded with no outs in the fourth, bases loaded again with one out in the bottom of the second inning and couldn't capitalize on a lead-off double by Ashley Puig to start the fifth with Celia Santini following up with a single, leaving two more on base without bringing any runs home.

"I think cleaning up we need to not leave as many runners on base," Blair said. "We need to get hits when we need them. Sometimes we were leaving too many runners on. We had a lot of runners left on base [but] besides that I think we did really well today."

Despite struggling to take advantage on the offensive end, Quagliana continued delivering a solid game in circle with some stout defensive efforts behind her. In the top of the third with the Golden Eagles threatening, Santini made a nice catch out in shallow right field to prevent two runners on with just one out. On the next batter, Madison Rappold made a pinpoint throw to Taylor LaFrance who made the tag on the attempted steal at second to end the inning.

Finally, in the bottom of the sixth SUNY New Paltz backed up its defensive effort with its first run of the game. Blair started the rally with a one-out single through the gap at short on a 3-1 count. Julia DiSpigna followed with a solid at bat, battling pitch-after-pitch, fouling off several balls before getting back into the court and drawing a walk. LaFrance and Ashley Puig watched four balls go by them, respectively, on the ensuing at-bats to load the bases and then force Blair home for the Hawks' first run. DiSpigna cut the deficit to one after scoring on a passed ball, but SUNY New Paltz was held there as two consecutive fly-outs ended the threat.

"I think the girls they just kept getting after it in their at-bats and just kept putting in the work and finally at the end we were able to get the timely hits when they were able to see the pitcher the third or fourth time up there," Maronski said.

Quagliana drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning with the Hawks still trailing by one. SUNY New Paltz was left with its last out after a line out and a ground out on the ensuing at-bats. However, Blair came to the plate and completed the rally she helped start. She smashed a ball to the left field wall, narrowly missing a walk-off home run to score Caroline Alicandri – who pinch ran for Quagliana – to tie the game at seven and ultimately force extra innings.

"When I approach the plate I don't really think about the pressure or how bad we need that hit. I just live in the moment and get a single and that's all we needed," Blair said. "I felt really comfortable today. I've been in a slump, so it feels really good to finally be hitting the ball. It is about time. We all strung hits together today and that is what won us the game, so I'm really glad we did."
In extra's, Quagliana forced a 1-2-3 inning setting the table for a walk-off for the Hawks. LaFrance led off the inning with her third walk off the game and advanced to second on a foul ball by Puig. Two batters later, Quagliana came back up to bat with a chance to earn the win for her own cause and she delivered, smacking a ball to left field side. LaFrance used her speed to round third and slide under the tag at the plate for the game-winning run.

"Katie is a good batter," Maronski said. "We knew coming in that she could hit and I think the more comfortable that she gets, the better she is going to do and at that time she just reached up, kept her hands high and put one right down in left field to get her in. Luckily we had Taylor on who is quick and can score."

After the jubilation of the game-one extra-inning win, SUNY New Paltz made sure to piggy-back on its momentum and get out on the Golden Eagles early. LaFrance started the first inning run with a single back to the pitcher, which Puig followed up with a base hit of her own. Santini brought LaFrance home a batter later on an RBI single to right and Blair tacked on another on an RBI single to right, platting Puig. Kelsey Trudden gave the Hawks the four-run cushion to cap off the inning after delivering a two-RBI single to right.

"I knew we were going to face the same pitcher who came in, so I said you know what you are going to see," Maronski said. "We need to put pressure on them early and not let them play with us."

Brockport earned two back in the fourth to cut the lead in half, but SUNY New Paltz answered with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth innings to establish a 7-2 cushion heading into the seventh inning.

The Golden Eagles didn't go away, however, and threatened a come-back in the top of the seventh inning. Cameryn Duggan started off the inning with a single to left and a hit by pitch forced another Brockport runner on with no outs. Following a strikeout on the following at-bat, Lexi Abernathy loaded the bases with a single to center. The Golden Eagles took advantage, platting back-to-back runs on an RBI single to left and sacrifice fly to right field, respectively, but SUNY New Paltz stopped the bleeding there. Emily Fox got Casey Danko to pop up for the final out, finalizing the, 7-4 win.
"I thought that they stayed calm even though they were getting hits," Maronski said. "We did a good job of hitting our cuts and not letting them advance in those situations and we just stayed within ourselves and got the outs when it was needed."

While Quagliana earned the game one win, going seven innings, while giving up three earned runs, two walks with three strikeouts, Fox registered the win in game two after throwing a complete game. She gave up just six hits, four earned runs with no walks and eight strikeouts in the victory.

Along with Blair, Trudden also had a solid day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a run scored two RBI's and two walks in the two games.

"It is important. Today is a day that we needed to take two and take it to them and we were able to come out and get it done no matter what way it was," Maronski said. "Before the games yesterday I told the girls that they are good hitting teams and that they're going to score runs and we can't get defeated when they do hit the ball and score some runs because we are going to be able to score too."

SUNY New Paltz is back in action Wednesday when it hosts Mount Saint Mary College in a double-header at Mary Gray Deane Field starting at 3 p.m. To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.