Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Buffalo, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz softball team collected a conference sweep on the road against Buffalo State Sunday, clinching its first State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYC) playoff appearance since 2017.
 
After splitting their series against Fredonia Saturday, the Hawks (25-10 overall, 12-6 SUNYAC) came out hot Sunday against the Bengals (17-19, 6-12). SUNY New Paltz totaled 23 hits, including two home runs by Taylor LaFrance and Julia DiSpigna, while also combining for 16 runs scored in 4-1 and 12-5 wins, respectively. 
"This weekend we came out and did what we needed to do to clinch a spot in playoffs," said Hawks softball coach Krysti Marnoski. "More importantly, we really showed up with our bats, which is awesome because we have constantly been hammering the offensive side of the game in practice recently. The team was getting in the box with confidence and selecting good pitches to hit and it was awesome to see them come alive from top to bottom and hitting four home runs on the weekend was really cool."
 
Buffalo State got out to an early 1-0 lead in game-one, but SUNY New Paltz tallied three runs in fourth to jump out in front and never let go of the advantage from then on.
 
Ashley Puig got the offense going with a lead-off double to centerfield. Kelsey Trudden doubled a batter later and scored Puig. LaFrance then hit her first home run of the season, crushing a two-run blast to push the advantage to 3-1. Puig then helped add an insurance run in the seventh to finalize the, 4-1 win.
 
SUNY New Paltz jumped out to score four runs in the top of the second inning to get ahead in game-two. Blair opened up the inning with a lead-off double down the left field line. Shannon Fee later batted in Blair in on a fielder's choice and LaFrance piled on with an RBI double to left field. Quagliana brought home two more to cap off the inning, scoring LaFrance and Emily Fox on a one-out two-RBI single to right field.
 
LaFrance and Fox scored again in the top of the fourth to boost the Hawks lead, but the Bengals answered with their first two runs of the game in the bottom half to cut the score, 6-2. The Hawks made sure to put distance between them in the sixth inning, registering four-more to all but put away the win.
 
DiSpigna blasted a solo home run to left center to get the scoring started in the sixth. Nina Simms followed with a base hit and Puig brought her home during the next at-bat, rifling a double to right center. Trudden helped bring Puig home with a two-out single up the middle, while Fee capped off the inning with another single for SUNY New Paltz up the middle to score Trudden.
 
Quagliana gave the Hawks another insurance run in the seventh, with Blair registering an RBI sacrifice fly on the play to solidify the 12-5 win for SUNY New Paltz.

Fox earned the win in game-two, throwing all seven inning, giving up just three earned runs, two walks with seven strikeouts. Quagliana, meanwhile, recorded her 13th win of the season after the game-one victory. She also threw all seven innings, while giving up just seven hits, one earned run, a walk and tallying three strikeouts.
 
LaFrance and Trudden led the team offensively on the day. Trudden went 3-for-7 with two runs and three RBIs, while LaFrance went 3-for-6 with three runs and two RBIs. Puig followed with three hits, two runs and an RBI, while Fee added two hits, a run and three RBI. Simms continued her hot play at the plate, hitting 4-for-6 with a run scored.
 
SUNY New Paltz clinched its spot in the SUNYAC playoffs, but still has to wait to see what seed it will land after SUNY Cortland and Oswego State play Monday to conclude regular season conference play. With the Hawks splitting both series against the two teams, a Lakers loss would promote the Hawks to the third seed, but an Oswego State sweep over the Red Dragons would bump them down to four.
 
Despite the seeding or whoever SUNY New Paltz gets matched up with, it will try taking the momentum from its final regular season road stand into postseason play.
 
"Going into the SUNYAC tournament we just have to keep rolling," Maronski said. "As long as we continue getting good pitching and defense, as well as staying tough at the plate we will put ourselves in a good position to win. We just have to go out there and play one pitch, one game at a time and focus on winning every inning."

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