Syracuse, NY — The State University of New York Athletic Conference released its yearly softball awards Thursday with history being made as senior Katie Quagliana became the program's first ever Player of the Year selection.
Joining her on the All-SUNYAC team were all first-time selections in sophomores Lindsay Roman, Jillian Shelbourne and senior Jillian Harrison. The four selected is the most ever in a single season for SUNY New Paltz, which come off a season where it set new records for total wins (27) and postseason victories (2). The trio of Quagliana, Shelbourne and Roman are the most first-team selections since 2010.
"The four kids who were selected this year for all conference have been huge for us on all facets of the game," said SUNY New Paltz coach Krysti Maronski. "Katie and Jill [Shelbourne] offensively were two really tough outs and Lindsay and Jill [Harrison] on the mound were lights-out all year. We could really count on them. It didn't matter if it was the starting position or relieving position. You always knew you were going to get good pitching from them."
To view the full All-SUNYAC team, click here.
Continue reading about Quagliana, Roman, Shelbourne and Harrison's All-SUNYAC individual seasons below:
Katie Quagliana (Julie Lenhart Player of the Year/First Team All-SUNYAC)
East Amherst, NY/Williamsville South HS
(senior, designated player)
Quagliana, a senior from East Amherst, NY, enjoyed a prolific season at the plate that allowed her to be recognized as the SUNYAC's top player. She becomes the first Hawk in program history ever to be awarded SUNYAC Player of the Year, a full circle of a career after becoming the first SUNYAC Rookie of the Year selection as a freshman in 2019.
"Once I read that I was so excited for Katie," Maronski said of Quagliana's Player of the Year honor. "Since she came in that freshman year, she was that wide-eyed freshman eager to get on the field, but she was always so positive, always worked hard and was just a solid player overall for us. Her first year was obviously doing a lot more of a pitching role for us but was an offensive threat as well and this year she transitioned more to the designated player role and she just ran with that. No kid is more deserving than Katie for this and I was really excited for her."
Appearing in 41 games and starting 40, the Buffalo native stepped to the plate 135 times (including the postseason) and batted .393 on the season, ranked top-10 in the SUNYAC, while finishing second to SUNY New Paltz lead-off hitter Jackie Rometo in hits with 53. During the regular season, Quagliana had 120 at-bats, registered 49 hits for a terrific .408 average and what was even more impressive, the senior struck out just four times during that span.
"The DP role is a tough spot because you're only coming up to hit offensively, so you have a lot of down time, but when you're in the role you might put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform because you know you're in the lineup to get hits and get the job done, but Katie's mindset is someone who fits that role really well. She's just very relaxed and I think she did a good job in that position this year."
Quagliana registered an on-base percentage of .435, ranking just outside the top-10 in the SUNYAC, while ranking second on the team in runs (30), RBI (21) and total bases (63) with an OPS of .902. In 14 appearances and 35.2 innings pitched this season on the mound, she recorded 16 strikeouts and just 11 walks with one complete game pitched and two wins under her belt.
With the pitching rotation as deep as the Hawks have had in recent memory, Quagliana was asked to take on more of an offensive role in the designated player position following three seasons as one of the team's top arms. She responded with her best offensive season in her storied four-year career, posting career-high's in batting average, hits, runs, RBI and extra base hits at the two-spot in the Hawks' lineup.
"Since she's come in as a freshman, she's always been really a well-rounded person. Someone that all of her teammates can look up to, and she has just grown in that role as she has grown up over the last three years. She's a great person for the kids to look to for advice. She's always been relaxed in any kind of situation, whether it's pitching or hitter, which is something I loved about her. I think she takes a great approach at the plate, but that's just the kind of kid that she is. Someone who's reliable, confident and trustworthy."
Her role as a senior captain was even more evident on and off the field, as she helped the team to the No. 3 seed in the SUNYAC postseason, along with the most wins, topping the record set in 2019 when she was named Rookie of the Year and earned Second-Team honors. While in four games of the SUNYAC Tournament totaled four hits, two runs scored and an RBI.
During the entirety of the team's 44-game season, Quagliana went hitless in just eight games and had a nine-game hitting streak going from March 13 to March 25. She tallied 16 multi-hit games on the year, registering three four times including her most explosive performance to ignite the Hawks to an 18-2 win over Potsdam where she went 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBI.
"Honestly, for a DP to get Player of the Year is huge because really only their offensive statistics are coming into play, so that just shows what kind of kid Katie is and the impact she had in our lineup all year long. She had four strikeouts on the year, which is incredible and over 100-something at bats, and her on-base percentage was upwards of .500. Basically, she was getting on base half the time, which shows that she's a very tough out to our opponents and I think everyone took that into play."
Jillian Shelbourne (First-Team All-SUNYAC)
Patchogue, NY/Patchogue-Medford HS
(sophomore, first base)
After having limited action in a COVID shortened freshman season in 2021, Shelbourne forced her way to the starting first baseman position with her prowess at the plate. Despite only having one at-bat a year prior, the Patchogue, NY native worked hard over the offseason to improve her swing and slowly became one of the best hitters in the SUNYAC this season.
"Jill came back this fall after not getting much playing experience, I think she may have had three at-bats, and we always knew Jill had a good swing," Maronski said. "She had a couple of little things that she needed to work on and she came in this fall and you can tell that she worked on her swing over the summer. She has a great eye. She sees the ball really well. She has a quick bat, so most of the times she is going to put the ball in play, and she got an opportunity this year and she really just ran with it."
In 94 regular season at-bats, she connected 40 times for a .404 regular season average, while in the postseason she went 5-for-14 including a clutch 3-for-4, three-RBI performance in SUNY New Paltz's 7-1 win over Plattsburgh State that kept the Hawks' season alive. Defensively, her 190 putouts were fifth in the SUNYAC and her total of 201 chances also ranked fifth.
"She's super coachable," Maronski said. "She's just an easy-going nice kid. Competitive though at the same time. She really wants to do well and put her team in the best position to win and do what she can to help out. With Jill you can keep it really light, which is fun."
She finished the year batting .398 — the best on the team with at least 75 percent of games played — with an OPS of .944, slugging percentage of .472 and on base percentage of .472. She was patient at the plate, as she totaled 14 walks on the year, second to only lead-off hitter Jackie Rometo, and had struck out just six times all year. She led the team in RBI with 26, was third in hits with 43, while adding 14 runs and going 6-for-7 in stolen base attempts. Her 26 RBI ranked just outside the top-10 in the SUNYAC, as she took advantage hitting in the three-spot, reliable to drive in Rometo and Quagliana hitting in front of her with a combined on-base percentage of .435.
"Having Jill behind Katie was really helpful in Katie's spot because if we have people on, you don't want to put Katie on knowing that the next girl coming up is another really tough bat, so those two piggy-back off each other definitely helped our lineup," Maronski said. "Jill came up in a lot of RBI situations and got the job down for us. Her and Katie were pretty similar honestly in their hitting approach and just putting the ball in play, another tough kid to strike out, gets on base a lot. Nothing super flashy, just gets the job done and that was big for us."
Also nick-named "Vera" by her teammates and coaches as she loves to tout around her favorite wheeled Vera Bradley bag on all away trips, Shelbourne just scratched the service on her potential heading into just her second full season in 2023 according to Maronski.
"Even with the year that she's had, [assistant coaches] Rick [Spriggs], Taylor [LaFrance] and I see so many things that she can improve upon, which just shows you how high her ceiling can be for the next two years," she said. "We expect her to hit for a lot more power and extra base hits next year that's the kind of kid she can be."
Lindsay Roman (First-Team All-SUNYAC)
Merrick, NY/Sanord H. Calhoun HS
(sophomore, pitcher)
Roman established herself as one of the best pitchers in the conference this season and the team's best arm in just her second year in orange and blue.
The Merrick, NY native went 12-6 in the regular season and added a playoff win as well with her 13 total wins tying her for fifth all-time in program history. Her 23 appearances were second in the SUNYAC and her 13 wins (including the postseason) were tied for second in the conference, while going 8-5 against SUNYAC competition.
"Coming into the season I knew she would most likely be our No. 1 that we went to. In Florida we had the conversation with her of, 'hey, you're going to throw the hardest games. They'll probably be minimal runs for you and you're going to go out there and do the best you can,' and that's a tough spot to throw in when you know you're going to go up against the other team's best pitcher. You really have to limit the damage, but she's a competitor she wants that position."
After starting four of five games in a shortened 2021 season and finishing her freshman year with a 3.55 ERA, Roman bested those numbers in her first full season. She finished the regular season with an ERA of 1.78 and kept her runs allowed to under two even after four postseason games, finishing her 2022 campaign with a 1.93 ERA, best on the team in more than one inning pitched.
She threw nine complete games with three shutouts, gave up just 13 walks, 106 hits and 25 earned runs over 116 innings pitched with 94 strikeouts on the season, which ranked second in the conference. She kept batters at just a .232 average against her with a WHIP of 1.02 on the season.
"I fought hard to get Lindsay recruiting her," Maronski said. "I saw so much potential in her as a pitcher. She has got all the tools, good speed, spins the ball really well, keeps people off balance and at this level you need all three of those things, so coming in I had high expectations for her and she's had high expectations for herself. She has a great presence on the mound. She understands pitching, which is important. She just doesn't just throw; she gets the game."
In the latter half of the year, Roman started mastering her off-speed pitch, which has helped her down the stretch throw longer in games and keeping batters off balance. One of her most impressive performances came toward the end of the season in a doubleheader at home against SUNY Oneonta. Roman started game-one and gave up just three hits over seven innings with one earned run, no walks and a career-high 10 strikeouts, but the Hawks lost, 3-1 in a heartbreaker. The team bounced back in game two and Roman went back out in relief to help stymy a Red Dragons scoring threat in the sixth with a no-out bases loaded situation. She went in, struck out the next three batters and then closed out the seventh to help solidify the game-two, 8-5 win for her team.
"There's a lot of pressure on yourself in those situations, like I said, when you're not getting all that run support so you've got to keep people off base and give your team the best position to win," Maronski said. "That's the kind of mentality you have to have as a pitcher. You have to go out there like, 'no one is scoring on me today,' and she has that mentality. Having that ERA under two is awesome and honestly, I see her getting better in that aspect the next two years."
Jillian Harrison (Second-Team All-SUNYAC)
New Paltz, NY/New Paltz HS
(senior, pitcher)
Harrison was asked to do a little bit of everything in her first full year as a Hawk. She started in more of a relieving role to begin the season before becoming the team's go-to second game pitcher, which solidified a stout one-two starting spot between her and Roman. Then, in the latter half of the year she was inserted into the lineup and delivered as one of SUNY New Paltz's most consistent hitters at the plate.
"Jill was like a chameleon kind of in different pitching roles this year, and then she had to be in an offensive role for us as well," Maronski said. "Jill has had a year of many different things. We started her off in a relieving role. We had the conversation that she was probably going to come into close games and after Florida we realized we needed her to start games. It didn't matter what role she was in she'll go out there and compete and do the best that she can, and I love that about her. She is such a fiery competitor on the mound, but she's done a great job in every role that we've put her in."
The New Paltz, NY native became one of the best and most consistent arms on staff for the Hawks, following Roman in the win column after ending the year with a 7-4 record. In 25 appearances and 10 starts, Harrison limited batters to just 76 hits, 23 earned runs and 19 walks with 41 strikeouts, while giving up a meager six extra base hits all year. She limited opposing hitters to just a .226 average against in 83 innings pitched with one complete game on the year and an ERA of 2.49 with a WHIP of 1.14.
At the plate, Harrison batted .414 on the season in 29 plate appearances with an OPS of .997, a slugging percentage of .483 and an on base percentage of .514, while adding 12 hits, including two doubles, six runs and seven RBI with six walks on the season offensively.
"She loves the game, she loves being out there with her teammates, doing everything she can to help us with the game," Maronski said. "She gets fired up when her teammates make awesome plays or she maybe gives up a couple hits and then gets a strikeout, she gets fired up. She's just that type of kid. We had to talk to her a little bit about toning it down sometimes when things aren't going her way but having someone like that on the mound who is a leader in that way and not afraid to show emotion, I think was good for us."
Harrison came through in the postseason as well, pitching 13 innings, giving up just 10 hits and two earned runs with eight strikeouts. In a win-or-go-home scenario against Plattsburgh, Harrison tossed a complete game, allowing just three hits, one earned run, no walks and three strikeouts to help push her team into the semifinal round of the SUNYAC Tournament and cementing their second win in the playoffs — the first time that has happened in program history.
"All of our pitchers do a great job working off each other. They support each other 100 percent," Maronski said. "You hear them in the dugout, getting fired up for one another which is awesome to see because when you do have a pitching staff of five people you're vying for innings, but ultimately the more you support each other and know that's about the team and if it's not someone's day, they know they have someone to back them up, they do an awesome job of that. They call themselves the Pitcher Homies, but in terms of having Jill there who had a full year under her belt, who has a little bit more experience I think her and Lindsay did a really good job talking with one another about different teams, batters and what was working for them and they all try to help one another out.
"We're super excited to have both Jill and Lindsay come back next year," she added. "Sydney [Waldon] is another great arm for us. I see so much improvement in each one of them, and you know I love my pitchers, they're going to do great next year too."
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