New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz softball team earned its first SUNYAC sweep of the year Wednesday at home against SUNY Plattsburgh.

The Hawks (6-10 overall) jumped on the Cardinals (7-9) early and blanked the visitors the rest of the game to win the first contest of the day, 7-0. SUNY New Paltz took an early one-run lead and broke the game open in the fifth and sixth inning to win the second game, 7-1.

"It felt really good to get a sweep," said Hawks junior pitcher Katie Quagliana. "I think everything came together today. We had really good pitching, good hitting, good fielding, everyone was having a lot of fun. I felt like this is how we play softball, so it felt really good."

Quagliana got the game started, leading off as the flex in game one, knocking a single to left and advancing over to second on a wild pitch. Nina Simms hit her and Rhionna Bianchini in with a hard-hit double through the middle of the field to give her team an early 2-0 advantage.

SUNY New Paltz broke out in the second inning, scoring five to pad onto its lead. The offense got going after two-straight outs with Carol Ann Campsey keeping the inning alive on a base hit and then putting herself in scoring position with a stolen base. Quagliana drove her home on a double and Bianchini kept the offense rolling with an RBI triple to push the Hawks lead to four. Kelly Marmorowski plated Bianchini, and Simms followed with her third RBI of the game on another double to score Marmorowski. Sydney Bonewit capped off the inning with an RBI single to bring home Simms to give the hosts a 7-0 advantage.

 

"In the box we've all been playing really well. We've all been doing what we know we can do. We show it at practice and now we're finally showing it in the games," Bianchini said. "Basically every practice we go over this. We go over different situations with runners on base trying to get the runs in and it's been working out with two outs luckily."
 
Jillian Harrison and Emily Fox took care of the rest on the mound. Harrison started the game and threw three innings, gave up one hit with a strikeout. Fox closed out the last four innings and kept the shutout, conceding just three hits and one walk to go along with one strikeout.

Campsey helped keep the zero on the scoreboard in the sixth with Plattsburgh threatening. With runners on second and third and one out, the Cardinals nearly got a sacrifice fly, but Campsey made the catch in left and gunned down the runner at the plate with Madison Rappold making the tag for the double-play to close out the inning.

The Hawks picked up where they left off in game two. Quagliana again instigated the offense, leading off with a double to left and was eventually hit home by Marmorowski to give SUNY New Paltz a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals gained one back in the top of the second, but the Hawks answered in the bottom half of the inning. Sydney Bonewit led off with a triple, as she hustled to third on a hard-hit liner to center field. Lauren Shambo did her job and knocked Bonewit in on a ground out in the next at-bat to lift SUNY New Paltz back on top, 2-1.
Quagliana earned the start in game two and had another solid outing, just four days removed from recording a career-high six strikeouts against RPI. She blanked the Cardinals the rest of the way and allowed just three hits in the last five innings of work.

"My approach was to have fun," Quagliana said. "I say it every time in there, 'live, laugh, love' to them. I just go out there and have fun, because I know everyone is super capable of making plays and we're here to have fun. That's my approach, just get it done."

Campsey helped get Quagliana more of a cushion in the fifth. The junior led off with a single to left and stole second to put herself in scoring position. Quagliana aided in bringing her home, as she forced a bad throw on a grounder to third. Campsey scored on the error and Quagliana found herself on second after the play. A passed ball placed Quagliana on third a batter later, and then she touched home following another error by Plattsburgh's third baseman on contact by Bianchini. Smart base running by Bianchini allowed her to steal third and set the table for a sacrifice fly by Simms to get the Hawks lead to 5-1 by inning's end.
 

2RBI hit for Quagliana to push @npsbhawks ahead 7-1 going into the 7th #NPHawks #NPSB pic.twitter.com/vT5y7VCCUQ

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) April 28, 2021

 
Quagliana made sure to add to the lead in the sixth. She drove a double to left and scored Julia Mastrup, who earned a base on a walk, and Heather Ehman, who led off the inning with a single. The Buffalo, NY native then closed out the game in the seventh with three-straight outs, including back-to-back strikeouts to secure her third win of the year. She finished her outing in the circle pitching a full seven innings, allowing just one earned run, six hits, no walks and four strikeouts.

"I definitely think this is the type of play we're capable of," Quagliana said. "I think it was a really slow start [to the season], but this is who we are. It seems like we're now having fun. We're taking all the pressure off of us and now we're just going and playing a game that we've been playing since we've been little and having fun."

Quagliana had a day at the plate as well, going 4-for-8 with four runs and tying a team-high with four RBI. Bianchini followed, hitting 3-for-8 with three runs and two RBI, while Marmorowski added two hits, two RBI, a run scored and a walk. Simms added two hits, a run and four RBI to tie Quagliana for a team-high.

"Personally, my strategy was just relax," Quagliana said. "I wasn't thinking too much. I think that carries over to everyone. I think we were putting less pressure on us to hit the ball and more on the pitcher and it seemed to work. Everyone looked confident and comfortable up there and we were getting hits."

Prior to the game the Hawks honored their seven graduating seniors: Simms, Rappold, Fox, Ehman, Meagan Blair, Celia Santini and Ashley Puig for their dedication and commitment to the program over their four (plus) seasons.

"It felt so good. I love my seniors, especially Emily my pitcher homie," Quagliana said. "I love all of them so much and I would do anything for them. I am so happy that we won. They deserve it. I hope they're happy with how the day came and yeah, I think we played well for them."

"For the seniors we really wanted to win today, because the season hasn't gone as we thought, but we got the chance to play this year, so we wanted to do the best we could for them," added Bianchini.

SUNY New Paltz still have one more series left before its 2021 campaign comes to a close, as it will host SUNY Oneonta for a non-conference doubleheader Monday. Game times to be announced.

Post-Game Interview with Katie Quagliana and Rhionna Bianchini


Highlights


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