New Paltz, NY — Down by a run in game one of the SUNYAC Championship Tournament Thursday, top seeded State University of New York at New Paltz came back in the bottom of the sixth to pull away with the 3-1 win over No. 6 seed Oneonta.
 
"It was really important getting this first win," said Hawks junior captain Kelly Marmorowski. "It takes the stress off the team and now we get to enjoy the rest of the day and relax and prepare for game two."
 
Marmorowski came up clutch for her team in the bottom of the sixth. With the game tied at 1-1 and two outs, Marmorowski stepped up to the plate looking to give her team the lead as teammates Juliet Bernstein and Sydney Bonewit stood on second and third, respectively, while the Red Dragons had some momentum, throwing out a runner at home a play earlier. Marmorowski calmly looked for her pitch and rifled a hard-hit single through the left side of the infield, scoring both Bernstein and Bonewit and giving her team the go-ahead lead.
 
"My mindset in the last at-bat was just to stay calm," Marmorowski said. "I knew she had to throw to me and if she walked me, we'd still score a run, so I was just waiting for my pitch. I wasn't trying to do too much. I was just trying to drive a single."
 
 
Scoreless through three, Oneonta generated some offense in the top of the fourth, started on a lead-off single. The Red Dragons then added their first run after back-to-back base hits to take a 1-0 lead with no outs. Lindsay Roman forced a fly-out on the following at-bat before loading the bases following another single. She forced another fly-out on the next batter with Jackie Rometo making an inning-saving throw, rocketing the ball on a dime to home, throwing out Oneonta trying to tag from third with Emmie Mae Cabrera there on the tag to get out of the inning.  
"That was electric," Marmorowski said. "That really pumped us up in the dugout. We knew she was out as soon as Jackie let go of the ball and we just had to have faith in Mae to place the tag. We knew once the ball got home, she was done. She was out."
 
SUNY New Paltz rallied in the fifth, started by Marmorowski's one-out single up the middle. Nicole Greco stepped in to pinch run and quickly went from first to third on a base hit by Cabrera. Greco then slid home, as a passed ball got by the catcher for the game-tying run.
 
Rometo led off with a base hit to center to begin the sixth and was moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Jillian Shelbourne. Bonewit followed with a blooper that landed in shallow center and Filancia then hit into a fielder's choice with Rometo called out on a tight play at the plate. However, from there Marmorowski stepped in to get the job done, picking up the Hawks with a game-winning, two-out two-RBI base hit.
 
"We had a lot of faith in our bench players and our starters, because we've been very successful scoring runs late in the game and we knew we could get it done," Marmorowski said. "We just had to have faith in every player and every batter that was up in the moment."
 
Roman improved her record to 17-2 on the year, allowing just six hits — four of which came in the fourth — and one earned run with three strikeouts. Marmorowski led the way offensively, finishing 2-for-3 with two RBI.
 
The win also pushes SUNY New Paltz to its first ever 30-win season in program history, a goal the Hawks set ahead of 2023. They will look to improve on that mark when they are back in action for day two Friday, taking on No. 4 Buffalo State, which lost its first-round game to No. 3 Geneseo.
 
For more tournament information, click here.

Post-Game Interview with Kelly Marmorowski
 
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