The State University of New York at New Paltz softball team takes its 2-0 record to Florida over spring break for 12 games in Clermont, FL in the PFX Spring Games. The Hawks defeated Rutgers University-Camden 12-8 and 11-1 in a double-header on March 4, the latter contest taking five innings. 
 
Over the first two games, Kelly Momarowski, Madison Maggs, and Sydney Bonewit tallied three hits apiece. Maggs, who hit a grand slam in the 11-1 victory, was named the SUNYAC/Presto Sports Athlete of the Week. Lindsay Roman, Jillian Harrison, Katie Quagliana and Sydney Waldon combined for nine strikeouts in the doubleheader against the Scarlet-Raptors, with Waldon registering four of their nine. A scheduled doubleheader for SUNY New Paltz on March 9 against Scranton University was postponed.
 
In Clermont, 22 miles west of Orlando, the Hawks will play six doubleheaders against 12 different opponents. They will match up with Misericordia University, Alfred University, Dominican College, UW-River Falls, North Central College, Augsburg University, Rhodes College, Utica, Wesleyan University, Arcadia University, Washington University of Maryland, and Springfield College. Of the group, the Pioneers from Utica and Saxons from Alfred University are the only schools from the state of New York.  
The first doubleheader takes place March 11, with SUNY New Paltz playing the Saxons at 1:50 p.m. and the Cougars of Misericordia at 4 p.m. Friday's opening game will be the first matchup ever between the Hawks and Misericordia. The Cougar's enter Friday's game with a 4-2 record, and are coming off two consecutive victories, against Cornell College by a score of 7-1 and Penn State Brandywine, 6-1. 
 
SUNY New Paltz and the Saxons will also meet for the first time ever on Friday. Alfred University has competed against The College at Brockport, SUNY Cortland, and SUNY Geneseo but never against the Hawks. Going into Thursday games against Illinois College and Ohio Northern University, the Saxons sport a 3-2 record.   
 
On March 12, SUNY New Paltz matches up with the Dominican University Stars out of River Forest, IL at 10 a.m followed by the UW-River Falls Falcons at 2:30 p.m. The Hawks have never played the Stars, and while they have met UW-Platteville, UW-Stout, UW-Superior and UW-Whitewater, they have never faced UW-River Falls. The Falcons are 3-3 going into the weekend, having defeated Edgewood on March 4 by a score of 8-7 and then cruising in a doubleheader 17-2 and 17-2 the following day against Crown College. UW-River Falls are winners of three-straight games and will face the Stars at 12:15 p.m. prior to matching up with SUNY New Paltz at 2:30 p.m. Kelly Aultman leads the Falcons in hits and RBI going into the weekend, with five hits and 12 RBI. 
 
Sunday's games will see the Hawks meet both the North Central College Cardinals at 9:30 a.m and Augsburg University Auggies at 11:45 a.m. for the first time in program history. The Cardinals, who represent a private college in Naperville, IL, will play their first games of the season over the PFX Spring Games, are facing Roger Williams University and York College of Pennsylvania on March 12 before their game against the Hawks. The Auggies, meanwhile, are a Minneapolis, MN school and have a 3-1 record going into the Spring Games. They will face Babson College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Smith College prior to meeting SUNY New Paltz. Augsburg University, the last time they took the field, split a doubleheader against Edgewood College, and were led offensively by Meredith Taylor who went 4-for-6 with a home run, a triple, and four RBI. 
  SUNY New Paltz has a day off on March 14 before they get into action on March 15, against Rhodes College of Memphis, TN at 10 a.m. and Utica at 12:15 p.m. The Lynx have had a strange beginning to their season, as they won their first seven games but lost the ensuing seven contests that has put their record at 7-7. The Hawks and Rhodes College have never met in softball competition. 
 
SUNY New Paltz and the Pioneers, meanwhile, have competed against one another previously in regular-season competition. The two programs met four times in two separate doubleheaders on April 24, 1991 and April 13, 1993, and the Hawks won all four of those contests. Utica, who will play their first game of the season March 13 against Fredonia State, finished last year's campaign with a 14-15 record. 
 
Following their matchup against Utica, SUNY New Paltz will play four more games over the course of March 16 and 18. On the 16th, they collide with the Wesleyan University Cardinals at 9:45 a.m. and Arcadia University Knights at 2:15 p.m. The Hawks will meet Washington University at 9:30 a.m. and the Springfield College Pride at 11:45 a.m on March 18.  
 
SUNY New Paltz defeated the Cardinals in their lone matchup on March 22, 2012 by a score of 5-4. The Hawks have never faced the Knights or Pride in softball competition, and have also matched up once with the Geese, on March 1, 2014 which was a 9-4 SUNY New Paltz loss. 
 
The game against Springfield College will wrap up a big 12-game slate for the Hawks over seven days in Florida. The program did not play in Florida last season, and all potential 2020 contests there were canceled due to COVID-19. In 2019, SUNY New Paltz won seven of nine PFX Spring Games.

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