New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz hosted St. Joseph's College-Long Island on Mary Gray Deane Field for its home opener Wednesday and came away with two wins in 10 innings, defeating the Golden Eagles, 8-0 and 13-1, respectively.
 
"We were trying out a couple new things today. I thought overall we did a great job at the plate of attacking balls that were in the strike zone. We didn't let a lot of pitches go by," said Hawks coach Krysti Maronski. "Defensively we did a good job. I thought the pitchers threw excellent today, all four of them. It was great to see Erin [Barno] come in for her first collegiate appearance and do well, so overall I'm really happy with the way we played today."
 
SUNY New Paltz got on top of St. Joseph's early in game one, scoring two runs in the first to take the lead. Madison Maggs put the Hawks in scoring position after knocking a double to left, as Katie Quagliana landed on third after taking a one-out walk a batter earlier. Jillian Shelbourne hit in Quagliana with a ground out to second and Campsey smacked a double in the next at-bat to score Maggs to double the advantage.
 
The game was broken open in the bottom of the fourth, as SUNY New Paltz scored six to aid in the five-inning win.
 
Campsey led off with a walk and then stole second to put herself in scoring position before Nicole Greco knocked an RBI double to right to score Campsey. Three at-bats later, Jackie Rometo blasted a two RBI double to center with Shelbourne capping off the scoring after a two RBI single drove in Julia Mastrup and Rometo to bring the lead to 8-0.
 
 
"We saw three different pitchers today, all different speeds, so we had to adjust with timing and different pitches we had to face. We were able to make the adjustments we had to make in order to be successful at the plate and it showed," Greco said. "With our home opener, we've all been really excited and SUNYAC's [this coming weekend] is a big deal to us, so we're all just excited to go in there strong especially with these two wins, clean sweep."
 
Lindsay Roman earned the win in game one after tossing four innings, giving up just one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. Jillian Harrison came in to pitch the fifth and gave up one hit, had one strikeout and forced two ground outs to close out the shutout.
 
"It felt great to get out on our field today," Harrison said. "We were really excited for it. We were amped up. We had music playing in the locker room and we came out here strong, because we wanted to take two on our home field in our home opener. I'm really proud on how everyone played today taking the field." 
SUNY New Paltz didn't waste any time to jump out in front in game two, scoring four in the first. Rometo led off with a single to center and then stole second to quickly put the Hawks in scoring position. After Quagliana singled, Maggs was hit to load the bases for Kelly Marmorowski who hit a single through the third base side, scoring Maggs and Quagliana. A Campsey groundout platted Maggs with Greco bringing Marmorowksi home on an RBI single to center.
 
SUNY New Paltz piled on six more in the second thanks to RBI hits by Rometo, Marmorowski and Bonewit. Marmorowski added another run in the third, hitting an RBI double to left to score Mastrup from second. After the Hawks let up one in the fourth, they answered with two more in the bottom half. Mya DiRenzo led off with a single down the third base side and a batter later, Rometo hit her third double of the day to advance DiRenzo to third. Rhionna Bianchini brought in DiRenzo with an RBI double and Mastrup scored Rometo on a ground out to bring the score to 13-1.
 
Harrison earned the start and the win after pitching the first two innings, giving up just a hit with no walks and a strikeout. Waldon came in for relief and went two innings, striking out four and giving up one earned run. Erin Barno then closed out the final inning in her first collegiate appearance of her career. She threw well, forcing three fly-outs to cement the 12-run victory.
 
"The dugout was electric when we heard that Erin was going onto the field," Harrison said. "We've been waiting, we've been ready and we've wanted to cheer her on and we were so excited. She went out there and showed who was the boss and that's all she had to do."
 
Rometo led the Hawks in the offensive onslaught with four hits, including three doubles, four runs and three RBI with no strikeouts and a stolen base, while holding down starting second-baseman duties for the first time this year. Shelbourne had three RBI in game one and in game two, Marmorowski went 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Greco also had a solid day, going 2-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and a walk.
 
"It gives us a lot of confidence going into this weekend," Greco said. "St. Joe's is a good team and we brought in a lot of energy. We played our softball, and to play at home we had a lot of fans there to give us our energy, so we're going to take all that energy we had today and bring it into this weekend against Plattsburgh and Potsdam."
 
Overall, the Hawks totaled 19 hits — nine extra base hits — while giving up just four hits against in a dominant home opener before they head into their first conference games of the season this weekend against Plattsburgh and Potsdam.
 
"I think this is important for us going into Saturday versus Plattsburgh and Potsdam," Maronski said. "I think we're going to face some similar style play from them, so heading into that we have to the mindset that we can't take anyone lightly. We have to go after everyone and we have to take it to them this weekend."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to travel to Plattsburgh to face the Cardinals in a doubleheader Saturday before taking on the Bears in Potsdam, NY for a doubleheader Sunday starting at 12 p.m.

Post-Game Interview with Jillian Harrison & Nicole Greco


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