New Paltz, NY — Lindsay Roman etched her name in the Hawks history books Saturday, pitching seven perfect innings, retiring 21 straight batters without a walk or a hit to register the program's first ever perfect game for the State University of New York at New Paltz.
 
Roman's performance came in a 6-0 win over Brockport Saturday on Mary Gray Deane Field. Her hitless win is just the fifth ever for a single pitcher in Hawks history, joining Amber Carossa '13, Michelle Reinke '06, Erin Conklin '98 and most recently Katie Quagliana in 2019. Quagliana '22 was the program's most recent no-hitter on March 29, 2019, which came against SUNY Geneseo, as she gave up just two walks in the outing.
 
"A perfect game is really hard to come by," said Hawks coach Krysti Maronski. "A lot of pieces have to come together. Lindsay obviously pitched great, and the defense has to be there to back them up as well. All in all, it was a great team effort and really awesome to see."
 
Roman tossed six strikeouts in the outing with her defense backing her up to field five ground outs and 10 flyouts. In the sixth inning, the Golden Eagles narrowly ruined the perfect streak to leadoff on a hard hit ball to first that ricocheted off the glove of Jillian Shelbourne at first, but freshman Lauren Serrao was there to make the play, fielding the ball from second and throwing the runner out to keep the streak going. The final out was also hard fought, as Brockport's cleanup hitter Kellie Gentile fouled off pitch after pitch before hitting a long fly to left center, but Jackie Rometo took a good angle and secured the catch and history for Roman and her team to solidify the 21st consecutive out of the game.
 
"Defense had to make 15 outs, so there was at one point maybe in the [sixth] inning, there was a soft liner that hit off of Jill Shelbourne's glove and Lauren made a really nice play backing her up and throwing to one to get the out. There was that play and obviously the one at the end was key to keeping the perfect game going," Maronski said. "When that's happening, you don't even speak it into existence. Toward the fourth inning I knew it was happening and I just told her to just get out there and keep doing what she was doing. I know it was in her mind probably, but as a pitcher you just have to stick to your game plan and not think about it."
 
Her perfect game capped a prolific week for the left-hander, as she allowed just six total hits, four walks, two earned runs with 16 strikeouts and just one base hit in 22 innings pitched with an ERA of .62, while keeping batters to just a .095 batting average. Along with a win over the Golden Eagles, she registered a 2-1 victory over Geneseo Friday before taking just her second loss of the year in a 2-1 defeat to Mount Saint Mary College earlier in the week.
 
Already a First-Team All-SUNYAC and Second-Team NFCA All-Northeast Region selection, Roman is primed for more postseason accolades with the way she's pitching this season. But, regardless of how 2023 or the rest of her career finishes, she will now always hold a place in the Hawks history books as the program's first ever perfect game pitched.
 
"Lindsay is a special pitcher," Maronski said. "I knew that recruiting her. She's got that presence on the mound, that competitiveness to get batters out and she works really hard in the offseason, so I'm really happy to see her hard work paying off. She's an awesome pitcher, probably one of the best ones that New Paltz has had."
 
With her performance this past week, Roman was named SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week for the second time in her career, announced by the conference office Monday and was nominated for NFCA National Pitcher of the Week as well.
 
To read the official SUNYAC press release, click here.
 
The NFCA National Pitcher of the Week is announced Tuesday's of each week.
 
**********
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.