After finishing the regular season with a road sweep over Buffalo State, the State University of New York at New Paltz softball team enters its first postseason since 2017 with confidence it can make program history.
 
"Being back in SUNYAC conference play, in the tournament, it feels really good, because all of us I think have better confidence going in now," said Hawks outfielder Julia DiSpigna. "Early on we already knew we were going to make the tournament and I think my freshman year were more like, 'oh we made the playoffs,' … I think now we're more confident in ourselves." 
The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) has showed its parity throughout the 2019 season. SUNY Cortland earned the right to host after collecting 30 points in conference, followed by defending SUNYAC Champions and No. 20 nationally ranked SUNY Geneseo, which secured the No. 2 seed.
 
The Hawks, meanwhile, after missing the playoffs altogether a year ago, secured the No. 3 seed, while No. 4 SUNY Oneonta, No. 5 Oswego State and No. 6 Fredonia State claimed the last three spots in the tournament, with SUNY New Paltz getting matched up against Catskill Cup rival, the Red Dragons of Oneonta.
 
"Yeah, it's definitely redemption for us, because we split with them and they were both low scoring games," DiSpigna said. "We're definitely better with our bats right now, so it's definitely going to be good competition. The whole SUNYAC will be good competition because everyone pretty much split with everyone, so it's everyone's game pretty much."
 
The last time the Hawks saw SUNY Oneonta was April 13, splitting the series on the road. Neither team had their bats going in either game of the doubleheader, as the series combined for just 19 hits — six of which coming from SUNY New Paltz. The Hawks won game-one, 1-0 after a stout performance from pitcher Katie Quagliana, but dropped game-two in a tight, 3-1, contest.
 
Since that series, however, the Hawks have put an extra emphasis on their offensive approach and it has shown. In their last eight games, they have totaled 117 hits, averaging more than seven runs per game, while recording 75 RBIs in their final eight games of the regular season.
 
"At the plate coach has really changed our approach, being more aggressive earlier in the counts, taking that first pitch down the middle and driving it up the middle, " said DiSpigna. "Definitely our two-strike approach when someone is on third, making sure that we're hitting it to the right side to score them in, because RBIs mean more than our hitting percentage." DiSpigna in particular has started to find her swing, blasting two home runs this past weekend, while batting more than .400 over the course of the week's slate of games. But no player has hit better than sophomore Nina Simms, the most recent SUNYAC Athlete of the Week. The Hopewell Junction, NY native recorded 16 hits in 26 at-bats to hit a staggering .615 this past week to conclude the regular season.
 
SUNY New Paltz has gotten equally consistent production from its main rotation in the circle of freshman Quagliana and sophomore Emily Fox, who have combined for four SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week honors this season. Fox, the most recent recipient, earned her first SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week nod after throwing 25.1 innings, recording 26 strikeouts with a 1.38 ERA and three wins in four starts.
 
"Nina is hitting really well and our pitchers are pitching really well, so just making sure that we're staying on top of the ball and [having] effective at-bats, making sure that we're getting runners in," said DiSpigna of what the Hawks need to continue in order to sustain their offensive production and make a run at a conference championship.
 
The Red Dragons, meanwhile, had a similar end to their season, splitting their final series against Fredonia State, while sweeping Buffalo State. Their back-to-back victories against the Bengals put an end to a three-game losing streak, as SUNY New Oneonta went 4-4 in its last eight games and in that span averaged about five runs per game, while conceding just more than five runs against.
 
"I think we're definitely capable of winning this year," added DiSpigna. "Just because our mindset is different. It's not like we're going in as underdogs anymore, it's more like we have that championship mindset going in and just knowing that if we do what we do every day, just every-days and just hitting the ball well then we'll definitely do well in the tournament."
 
The Hawks SUNYAC Championship run starts Thursday at 1 p.m. against SUNY Oneonta on SUNY Cortland's Dragon Field. 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.