Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Cortland, NY — A historic season for the State University of New York at New Paltz softball team came to an end Friday in Day 2 of the State University of New York Athletics (SUNYAC) Tournament.
 
The Hawks (26-12 overall), despite falling in heart-breaking fashion against defending SUNYAC Champions and No. 20 nationally ranked SUNY Geneseo, 4-3, and then to Oswego State, 6-3, in the elimination game, finished their 2019 campaign with the most wins and best record in program history.
 
"I think coming in their willingness to be open and really embrace what me and the other coaches were bringing into the program, you know that is the key factor in the big part of our success," said first-year SUNY New Paltz coach Krysti Maronski. "If we came in and they were resistant to it, we would not of had the season that we had, but they wanted it. They worked hard. They listened to everything we had to say and were very coachable. This was all them. Their hard work and their resilience really has shown." 
 The Hawks were just three outs away from pulling off a huge upset over the Knights, as they held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. An unusual play to lead off the inning, however, was the turning point in the game.
 
Jasmine Petrishin led off for Geneseo and blasted a hard hit to deep right field, which rolled to the wall for a double. SUNY New Paltz got the ball in, but as shortstop Taylor LaFrance went to hand the ball back to Hawks starting pitcher Emily Fox, she stepped out of the circle, and Petrishin immediately saw the opportunity and left for third. SUNY New Paltz made the attempt to make the tag in-between the bases, but the throw was dropped, which allowed Petrishin to round third and head home for the game-tying score.
 
The Knights took advantage of the momentum swing. On the very next pitch they smacked a single to right field and followed up with a bunt single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Alyssa Persich then hit a ball back to pitcher Katie Quagliana, who went in for Fox a batter before. Quagliana fielded the ball, took a quick look at third before making the throw to first, which was dropped, alowing the game-winning run to score.
 
"Geneseo is a team who was in a regional final last year and won the SUNYAC Tournament. We did not make this tournament last year and they have that experience," Maronski said. "I think in the end that kind of got to us a little bit. The nerves maybe got to us in the end and they capitalized on that."
 
The game initially started as a pitcher's duel through the first four innings between the Hawks' Fox and Geneseo's Taylor Moore, as neither pitcher gave up more than a hit through the first four.
 
The game picked up in the fifth with LaFrance taking a pinch just off the helmet to get on with no-outs to start the top of the inning. Quagliana earned a walk on a 3-1 count to put two runners on before Julia DiSpigna stepped into the batter's box and laid down a perfect bunt to safely get on and load the bases for Ashley Puig. Puig did her job and drove in LaFrance on a sacrifice fly. After Kelsey Trudden reached safely to load the bases, Damore, who earned the start at third for the injured Meagan Blair, rifled a ball down the third base line to score two more and bring SUNY New Paltz's lead to 3-0.
 
SUNY Geneseo answered in the bottom half, however, trimming the Hawks cushion to just one run entering the sixth.
  After a scoreless next inning for SUNY New Paltz, LaFrance helped her team get out of the bottom half of the inning, making a great play to cover ground on a ball hit up the middle, stepping on second and then making the pin-point throw to first for the double play. After Fox recorded the last out of the inning, SUNY New Paltz needed just three more outs to secure the win, but as fate would have it that wouldn't be the case. 
 
"Overall, we controlled that game," Maronski said. "It came down to one thing and that's unfortunate, but I am proud of how we played in that game."
 
After 111 pitches, Fox had a quick turnaround to forget a tough ending to game-one, as she came in to relieve Quagliana in the circle in game-two after the Lakers opened up with 2-0 lead.
 
Fox took over with one out and bases loaded. DiSpigna made a really nice catch in center field, tracking a deep hit ball to record the second out, but a sacrifice fly brought Oswego's lead to 3-0. Fox got the next batter to groundout to end the inning.
 
SUNY New Paltz slowly came back into the game, getting a run across in the third and fourth innings, thanks to RBI hits by DiSpigna and Shannon Fee. The Hawks then cut the deficit to just one in the bottom of the sixth. Puig got the offense started after beating out a throw to first on a dribbler to short. She eventually advanced to second on a wild pitch and two batters later Damore came up in the clutch with a two-out single to plate Puig.
 
However, a couple insurance runs in the top of the next inning swung momentum back toward the Lakers, as Brianna Harrington knocked a two-run home run to extend Oswego's cushion back to three.
 
DiSpigna hit a two-out single to keep hope alive for the Hawks, but the rally stopped there. The Lakers struck out SUNY New Paltz's final batter and claimed the win.
  DiSpigna, along with leading SUNY New Paltz offensively on the day, going 4-for-8 with an RBI and run scored, made a highlight catch at the wall on a well struck ball to center field. She tracked down the ball and gave up her body to make the catch before crashing into the wall in the top of the fourth.

Fox was the catalyst in the circle Friday. She threw 217 pitches in 12.2 innings, while giving up just six earned runs, 12 hits, four walks, while registering eight strikeouts in the game.
 
"She was lights out this weekend," Maronski said. "I am so proud of how she did. If she didn't show up then we would not have had the same tournament that we did this weekend. Her composure, her confidence, everything was there and she really just did an awesome job."
 
SUNY New Paltz set the foundation for a promising 2020 season, only losing two players from its 2019 squad in second baseman Shannon Fee and outfielder Nicole DePaola to graduation.
 
Fee had a solid tournament, finishing with three hits a run and two RBIs on the weekend, while DePaola scored two runs and was also named the Elite 20 award recipient, which is given to an athlete in each sport who has "reached the pinnacle of competition at the conference championship level… while also achieving the highest academic standard."

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