Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 New Paltz, NY --- After being swept last season, the State University of New York at New Paltz softball team was ready to return the favor Monday against SUNY Potsdam. The Hawks attacked early in both game-one and game-two, which helped earn an 11-3 and 7-1 wins, respectively, at Mary Gray Deanne Field.

The doubleheader also served as Senior Day for SUNY New Paltz, as it honored its three graduating members in Shannon Fee, Madison Rappold and Nicole DePaola. All three contributed in the series, each adding a hit on the day.

"It feels especially great, considering that we played Potsdam last year in the last game of the season and they ended up sweeping us, so to be able to come back a different team this year [with] a new mentality, we really showed up," said Hawks sophomore outfielder Nina Simms. "This was a team we really had to take it to, so we really did that and it was really great." 

Simms was the catalyst on the afternoon, as the sophomore earned her first start in left field, mostly due to her offensively prowess, and produced at the plate, while also making a few highlight catches in the outfield for one of her best overall performances of her young career.

"With Nina we need her bat for sure, so we're trying a couple new things with the lineup and we said, 'alright, today is the day we're going to put her in left and try it out,'" said SUNY New Paltz coach Krysti Maronski. "She had a great day. At the plate she hits the ball really hard, as you can see. Whenever she swings at her pitches and doesn't chase, she's going to hit the ball hard and give herself a chance to get on base and score some runs."

Simms gave the Hawks the early lead in the bottom of the first in game-one. After Katie Quagliana and Taylor LaFrance opened up the inning with back-to-back hits, Celia Santini laid down a nicely placed bunt along the first base line to advance both runners. Simms then stepped in the box and knocked a hard hit toward the left side of the infield to score both LaFrance and Quagliana to give SUNY New Paltz a 2-0 lead. Meagan Blair piled on another run before the end of the inning for the Hawks, hitting a hard grounder toward short. Simms used her speed to get from second to home to extend the advantage.

SUNY New Paltz was given an uncharacteristic uneven performance from ace Katie Quagliana in the circle, as the three-time conference Pitcher of the Week gave up three walks within the first two innings. After the Bears came back to tie the game at three, Maronski went with junior right-hander Alyssa Pfitscher to finish out the game. Pfitscher did her part, throwing three-straight strikes for the strikeout to get out of the inning, stranding runners on second and third. Pfitscher finished the rest of the game to earn the win after throwing 2.1 innings, allowing two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. 

"Katie just didn't have her best day and her best stuff, and at that point we needed to switch it up and go with Alyssa, and she was ready to go throwing strikes and moving the ball," Maronski said. "She was throwing pretty hard I thought. She came in and got the job done, which was awesome."

The Hawks opened the game up in the fourth inning. Julia DiSpigna got the rally started, hitting a one-out single to left. Quagliana followed up with a base hit to the left side of the infield before Pfitscher came in two batters later to give herself and her team the one-run advantage. Swinging at a ball high up in the zone, Pfitscher smashed an RBI base hit to center field to score DiSpigna. Simms loaded the bases with an infield single and Ashley Puig then quickly emptied them with a bases clearing triple down the right field line to bring SUNY New Paltz's advantage to 7-3.

After piling on three more runs in the fifth, the Hawks put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Kelsey Trudden hit a two-out single to advance Blair, who got on base safely on a fielder's choice. DiSpigna then ended the game on a hard-hit RBI single to short, beating out the throw at first to score Blair and solidify the 11-3 six-inning victory.

"Today was a day that we needed to come out strong and take two, especially in conference," Maronski said. "We really needed to use today going into tomorrow, and hopefully we got some confidence at the plate. I think our approach was a lot better. We seemed a lot more relaxed even at the start of the first game. We were a lot more relaxed and that is what we had worked on in practice last week was our mental approach, so it was good to see them all get up today."

SUNY Potsdam got out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first in game-two, but the Hawks answered in the bottom half. LaFrance started the rally with a one-out single to left, while Simms followed with a walk. Puig scored LaFrance after hitting a grounder to short, which was mishandled, allowing Simms to advance and Puig to reach safely as well. Fee loaded the bases after earning a walk of her own and Blair officially gave SUNY New Paltz the lead on a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Simms.

The Hawks offense kept the momentum going in the second, as Simms pushed the lead to 4-1 after getting on the end of a low pitch inside, ripping a two RBI base hit to score LaFrance and Quagliana. Simms then blew open the game in the fourth and put an exclamation point on a stand-out day, blasting a three-run home run over the right field fence to tally her first collegiate homer, while padding her team's cushion to 7-1.
"I definitely thought it was going. I could feel it off the bat," said Simms. "It felt really good. My hitting hasn't been the strongest lately, so to have games like these is really a pick-me-up and it feels really good."

Fox earned the complete game win, throwing all seven innings, while allowing just six hits, one earned run with eight strikeouts. Simms paced the offense, going 4-for-6 at the plate with four runs and seven RBIs.

"My approach is to really not think about anything," Simms said. "When I think too much it doesn't go well, so I just try to relax, trust in myself and I know coach trusts me up there, so that was really my approach, just to relax and do what I know I can do."

Quagliana followed offensively, hitting 3-of-6 with five runs and an RBI. LaFrance and DiSpigna both went 4-for-7 with three runs and an RBI apiece, while Pfitscher went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.

The Hawks are back in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action Tuesday in their home finale against Plattsburgh State starting at 3 p.m.

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