SUNY New Paltz Athletics

New Paltz, NY — Hopes of a SUNYAC title came to an abrupt end Friday for the hosting Hawks on Mary Gray Deane Field.
 
The State University of New York New Paltz lost in the first game of the winner's bracket to start Day 2 of the SUNYAC Championships against No. 2 Cortland, 4-3 and were forced into an elimination game to end the afternoon and fell to No. 3 Buffalo State, 1-0. In turn, the Red Dragons and Bengals will return to Mary Gray Deane Field Saturday for a chance to hoist the SUNYAC Championship trophy.
 
The Hawks originally took the opening lead in the bottom of the third in their opening game against the Red Dragons Friday, which started on a twisting fly ball by Kaitlyn Gordon that gave Cortland trouble in right, which allowed SUNY New Paltz to re-start the order.
 
Ava Thys moved Gordon over to third on a fly ball to right with Maddie Anderson then coming through with a sacrifice flyout to deep right, easily plating Gordon for the game's first run. Kelsey O'Brein kept the inning going with a walk to bring up the SUNYAC's top hitter in junior Ella Sharrock. The Red Dragons decided on a pitching change with Sharrock in the box and although Sharrock rocked a hard shot to right, Cortland handled and got out of the inning just down one.
 
The Red Dragons answered in the top of fourth, as Laila Smith pushed a liner over the head of Lauren Serrao at second to notch their second hit off ace Alex Frenza. Kaeli McAnally then laid down a perfect bunt, which in turn, changed the momentum of the game. The throw by Sharrock to first sailed high and McNally moved over to second, which allowed Smith to score to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Maggie Cummings kept the rally going, driving a liner to the left side scoring another to give the Red Dragons the lead at 2-1.
 
SUNY New Paltz had an opportunity to go up in the bottom of the fourth. Jenna Carmody hustled down the first base line on a slow grounder to force a rushed throw into the dirt before Serrao continued the two-out rally in the inning with a walk. Gordon showed her maturity at the plate as the freshman worked out of a full count, fouling off two pitches before taking a walk to re-start the order and load the bases with the Red Dragons opting for another pitching change. The Hawks couldn't take advantage though, as Thys, after fouling off two pitches on a 3-2 count hit a slow grounder to second to close the side.
 
 
Cortland then added a couple insurance runs in the sixth, taking advantage of a fielding error on a routine grounder hit at short. It first started the inning with a single up the middle before a tailing fly ball that fell just inside the left field line brought the runner home with Gordon making a nice throw into Mallory Rohon at home who got the tag down for the first out.
 
Morgan Smith made the switch for Frenza in the circle, and she immediately got an out in her first batter faced and narrowly got out of the inning unscathed, but an error at short added to the Red Dragon lead, 4-1 entering the bottom half.  
SUNY New Paltz then rallied in the bottom of the seventh, started by Thys who forced an errant throw on a slow grounder that gave the Hawks a base runner with no outs. Anderson then ripped the second pitch she saw through the right side, allowing the game-tying run to enter the box in O'Brien. The senior captain then worked a walk to load the bases, forcing another pitching change to Molly Farley who bent, but didn't break, as she managed the jam in the middle of the heart of SUNY New Paltz's lineup.
 
Farley forced Sharrock into a pop-up before Rohon brought a run across on an RBI single to close the gap, 4-2. Brianna Hardwick flied out with the Red Dragons holding all runners before Carmody pushed a runner across with an RBI walk. The rally stalled there, however, as Farley got Serrao to pop up to close the 4-3 win for her side.
 
The result allowed Cortland to take the rest of the day off as it waited for the Day 2 winner, landing in the championship game Saturday. Meanwhile, the Hawks returned for a second game in the afternoon against No. 3 Buffalo State which rallied to eliminate No. 5 Oneonta, 4-3 in the second contest of the day.
 
The Bengals took the momentum straight into the third and final game of the afternoon, as ace Izzy Pezdek limited SUNY New Paltz to four hits with the game held at zeros until the sixth. Leah Gunsett earned the start for the Hawks and pitched well, also only letting up four hits against, but the difference was timely hitting with runners in scoring position.
 
SUNY New Paltz stranded nine runners on, which included runners in scoring position in the first and bases loaded in the fifth. Pezdek gave up back-to-back walks to allow the Hawks two on with one out in the first, but Sharrock and Rohon each looked at called strikes to end the frame on back-to-back strikeouts.  
In the fifth, Serrao patiently took a walk to lead off the inning with Thys adding a hit two batters later before Anderson loaded the bases on a walk. O'Brien swung on a high pitch to strike out on a 2-2 count, before Sharrock popped out to end the threat.
 
Buffalo State answered in the following frame, as its leadoff batter beat the throw to first with a throw into the dirt on a grounder to short. The Bengals then executed on a sacrifice bunt to get into scoring position. Following a base hit to place the runners at the corners, Buffalo State's Maya Hurley delivered on a bloop in the gap in shallow right. Carmody made a nice play to make the awkward catch, but the contact was enough to score the runner from third on the tag.
 
SUNY New Paltz had one final opportunity to rally in the bottom of the seventh. Frenza stepped in to pinch hit for Gordon and muscled a single through the right side to get the Hawks the game-tying run on with one out.

SUNY New Paltz was back atop its lineup but couldn't execute on the go-ahead hit. Thys popped up for the second out. Anderson then looked at six straight pitches to draw a walk, allowing O'Brien the opportunity to come through with the go-ahead hit. The senior swung at the first pitch and hit a grounder to third with the Bengals stepping on the bag for the force out and ending the side, officially eliminating the regular season champs.
 
Thys, Frenza and Rohon made up all four hits in the game for SUNY New Paltz with Anderson drawing four walks. Gunsett tossed a full seven innings and allowed four hits, one earned run, one walk with four strikeouts.
 
The Hawks await to see if they have slight hope to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, which would be the first at-large given in program history. They sat third in the most recent regional rankings entering the weekend.
 
If not, the team would conclude one of their highest win-totals in history at 31-10 overall and 17-1 in the SUNYAC, claiming its third regular season title in the last four years and third 30-plus win season in program history.


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