New Paltz, NY — In the end, the Hawks were always destined to be champions.
 
When coach Krysti Maronski took over the State University of New York at New Paltz softball program in 2019, she set a goal of achieving a program title — the first ever for the team — by five years into her tenure. It took an extra season, but the adversity faced set up a historic run ending in the goal at hand — a SUNYAC Championship.
 
On Sunday, on Mary Gray Deane Field, SUNY New Paltz dropped the first game in the double elimination SUNYAC Tournament to No. 2 Cortland, 7-0, before regrouping to win the one that mattered, coming back to claim a 5-0 victory and solidifying its top spot in the conference and hoisting a SUNYAC trophy on their home field.
 
"We set out from August from last year that we were going to make it to the NCAA Tournament that was our main goal, and we did it," Maronski said. "They worked really hard. This senior class has been with us for some great years. Each year we have been building toward this moment and they are a huge impact on how this program has achieved what they have."
 
The conference title puts an exclamation point in a season of bests, as the team improved to a record-setting 35-6 overall after finishing with a SUNYAC record of 17-1. The Hawks rode a 19-game winning streak through the year, also a program best, before falling to SUNY Geneseo for their lone conference loss of the season. The defeat, in retrospect, proved to be a pivotal learning experience as the team bounced back to earn the game two victory. SUNY New Paltz had to do just that Sunday after a poor outing to start the afternoon but just like in its earlier regular season matchup, regrouped, brought energy, and turned the tide.

 
 
"I think coming into the first game maybe we didn't have the mindset that we don't need to get this first game and we didn't play our best softball. Props to Cortland, they took advantage of that and they beat us for sure," Maronski said. "But I said to the team in-between games, we just need to let this go just like we did last week against Geneseo. It's a wash. We move on from it and trust that we can do it."
 
The top seeded Hawks were matched up against the Red Dragons after the two seed knocked off No. 6 Buffalo State in the early game of the afternoon, 6-0. Cortland stayed hot and got on SUNY New Paltz early, making solid contact on pitches thrown by the Hawks' Lindsay Roman.  
Cortland took a two-run lead in the third before Sydney Waldon came in to replace Roman with two on and one out. A passed ball scored another run before an RBI ground out scored another to bring the Red Dragons lead to 3-0. Cortland pushed the score to 6-0 in the fifth with Alyssa Zangrilli taking the hill in the fifth, getting the final out of the inning. Zangrilli allowed one in the sixth and closed out from there but with the Hawks registering only four this, couldn't muster enough offense to climb back.
 
Kelsey O'Brien led the team offensively, registering two of the Hawks' four hits, including a double. Roman suffered just her fifth loss of the season, allowing five hits, three earned runs and walk.
 
However, the Hawks shook off the loss and kept vibes high entering a win-or-take-all Game 2. Mirroring her head coach, a former All-Region pitcher, Roman led her team to a win in Game 2 as she threw a seven scoreless innings, giving up just four hits in a dominant performance.
 
"It's funny, 10 years ago when I was a senior, the same thing happened to me. I started the first game, didn't have it and was taken out. I started the second game, and we won a championship," Maronski said. "So, the mindset is that you just have to let the past game go and know that you are the best pitcher out there and you can shut any team down on any given day and she did just that. Her pitches were working, they were spinning, hitting her spots. She was trusting her defense behind her. You just have to go out there with confidence and she does that every game. It was awesome to see. She's a special pitcher. She holds a special place in my heart and I'm excited to see her continue her career now."
 
SUNY New Paltz scored runs in the first, second and third innings. Rometo led off with a base hit and was later batted in on a two-out double by O'Brien to deep left center to put her team on the board early. A bases loaded walk pushed another run across for the Hawks in the second with O'Brien scoring again in the third. She led off with her second double of the day and later scored from a Rhionna Bianchini RBI base hit to right to bring the score to 3-0.
 
SUNY New Paltz capped its offense in the fifth, started on a hard hit to right by Jillian Shelbourne that ignited the Hawks dugout. Maddie Anderson came in to pinch run and eventually scored after Sydney Bonewit hit a hard ground to third. The throw was rushed and thrown over the first baseman's head, allowing Bonewit to reach safely and Anderson and Isabella Shepherd to score, creating a 5-0 cushion.
 
Cortland led off with a base hit in the sixth and earned two on following a throwing error, but Roman earned three straight outs to get out of the inning. She then locked down the ninth with two flyouts before grounding out the final out of the game to Shelbourne at first to seal the victory.
 
"Hard work pays off. We've wanted this since the beginning and we finally did it," Rometo said. "We knew going in we had taken that loss to Geneseo in the regular season and came right back from that, so we just used the same mentality from that game to go into this one."
 
Rometo went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk to start the order while Shelbourne and O'Brien each had two hits with O'Brien adding a run and an RBI.
 

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"It's special. This was one of my goals when I got here in five. Covid kind of put a damper on that, but we did it in six," Maronski said. "Every year has been exciting because we continued to build and see that. We have gotten some talented players in here to help us elevate that level. Winning is fun, but on top of that they are just a great group. We had a lot of fun this whole weekend. I'm really proud of how they played this weekend to get up in between games. You can just feel the momentum shift. Even though we had such a bad loss, they were able to lift their spirits up and believe in themselves."
 
The original four-year senior class of Shelbourne, Roman, Shepherd, Bianchini and Marmorowski are the winningest players to play for the program and the last four years they have set a new standard with it all culminating in the team's first ever SUNYAC title.
 
"I'm so proud," Maronski said. "They are such a good class. They do everything right. No questions asked. They show up, work hard. A lot of them have played many different roles and owned their roles, and never complained about it. And that's what a championship team needs to have. They need to have all those different types of players and they really embody what it means to be a team and own those roles."
 
Bianchini, Shepherd, along with Serrao and O'Brien were named to the All-Tournament team with Roman named Tournament MVP.
 
SUNY New Paltz, with the victory, also clinched its very first bid into the NCAA Tournament as it awaits who and where it will be playing with the selection show set for Monday at 11 a.m.
 
"I think after winning this, we're so confident," Rometo said. "That was the main goal all season. We knew we had to win SUNYACs to get there."

Post-Game Interview Featuring Jackei Rometo & Sydney Bonewit


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