During a seesaw series, the Stony Brook softball team prevailed in the Battle of Long Island to punch its ticket to its third consecutive Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) postseason.
This past weekend, the Seawolves (24-21, 17-7 CAA) were at University Field to close out their 2025 home slate with a three-game set against their cross-county rival, the Hofstra Pride (17-26, 12-12 CAA). Stony Brook opened the series on Friday with a dramatic 6-4 comeback victory to punch its ticket to the CAA playoffs. On Saturday, the Seawolves were blown out 6-0 before bouncing back to take Sunday’s rubber match 2-0 on Senior Day.
To kick off the series, Stony Brook jumped ahead early. After shortstop Kyra McFarland led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, Hofstra starting pitcher Emma Falen sailed a pitch to the backstop, allowing her to advance to second base. With one out, left fielder Nicole Allen came through by ripping a run-scoring single into center field to put the Seawolves ahead 1-0.
Stony Brook’s lead did not last long, as the Pride roared back in the top of the second inning. Facing a bases loaded and one out situation, starting pitcher Crimson Rice’s 0-1 pitch to Hofstra left fielder Lily Yepez was slapped into left field, knotting the score at 1-1 with all runners moving station to station.
Though third baseman Madelyn Stepski got a forceout at home for the second out of the frame, the Seawolves were not out of the lion’s den just yet. With the bases still filled, Rice gave up her second walk of the stanza, this time to Hofstra two-way player Anna Butler to force in a run. Immediately after, Hofstra shortstop Alanna Morse poked a 1-2 pitch up the middle to plate a pair of runners and make it 4-1 Pride.
Hofstra’s four-run frame chased Rice from the game after just 1 ⅔ innings. During her short-lived outing, the right-hander surrendered four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out one batter.
With Rice’s struggles, head coach Megan Bryant summoned left-hander Gabrielle Maday out of the bullpen, who stranded a pair of inherited runners to stop the bleeding and keep Stony Brook within striking distance.
After leaving four runners on base across the next three innings, the Seawolves solved Falen in the bottom of the fifth. The top of Stony Brook’s order paved the way for an offensive outburst, as McFarland, center fielder Alyssa Costello and Allen strung together three consecutive singles to begin the festivities. With the bases juiced, designated player Mia Vannelli — who was moved into the cleanup spot on Friday — lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to trim the Seawolves’ deficit to 4-2.
During the ensuing at-bat, catcher Emily Reinstein brought Stony Brook within a run and chased Falen from the game by knocking a single up the middle for a run batted in (RBI). With Butler now in the circle after starting the game at first base, right fielder Emma Scheitinger sliced a sacrifice fly to right field to score Allen and even the score at four runs apiece.
“We just had to stick to our plan,” Bryant said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “I thought we did a little bit of fishing early on and popped up too many balls. But once we started getting on top of balls, hitting some good singles and being productive offensively, we were able to get going.”
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Seawolves regained the lead. Pinch hitter Kaiya Simpkins drew a leadoff walk to put the leading run aboard. After fouling a pair of bunts in an attempt to move Simpkins over, second baseman Naiah Ackerman swung away and grounded a ball to Hofstra third baseman Mackenzie Fitzgerald, who airmailed the throw to first base to put runners on second and third. From there, McFarland drove a sacrifice fly to left-center field to put Stony Brook in front 5-4.
“We know we’re never out of every game until the game is over,” McFarland said. “We all had faith in each other and trusted each other. We knew all it was going to take was one run so we tried to keep pushing and getting runners on base because at some point, we were going to get them in.”
With Ackerman standing on third base and one out, Costello pulled an RBI single into right field to give the Seawolves an extra measure of insurance.
Working with her first lead of the day, Maday slammed the door on the Pride in the top of the seventh inning. The southpaw retired Hofstra in order, with two outs coming via strikeout, to earn the series-opening win and send Stony Brook to the postseason.
After entering the contest with a mess to clean up, Maday twirled 5 ⅓ scoreless innings in relief while allowing just two hits and racking up four punchouts.
“A lot of it is just trusting my defense,” Maday said. “They had done a good job in the earlier innings. I just wanted to keep that game close and keep us in it to give our offense a chance to produce some runs.”
Unlike the opener, the series’ middle game did not treat the Seawolves kindly. Following a quiet two innings, the Pride jumped out to a lead in the top of the third inning. With Hofstra center fielder Chelsea Villar on first base and two outs, Morse yanked a double into left field that got past Allen and rolled to the wall, making it 1-0.
During the next at-bat, Hofstra right fielder Dahlia Palacio was unbothered by the lefty-lefty matchup, as she took starting pitcher Maddie Male deep to right-center field to stretch the Pride’s advantage to 3-0.
Leaving a pair of runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth inning proved costly, as the Seawolves’ hole grew deeper in the top of the sixth. With Rice now on in relief, Hofstra put together a pair of two-out singles to prolong the stanza. Poised to pounce, Villar clanked a long, RBI double off the left-field fence.
In the top of the seventh inning, things went from bad to worse for Stony Brook. With one on and one out, Morse took off to steal second base and Fitzgerald found the vacant hole at shortstop for a perfectly-executed hit-and-run. Upon scooping up the ball, Allen’s throw went to third, allowing Fitzgerald to advance to second easily. However, Stepski tried to mow Fitzgerald down there anyway and her throw sailed into right field, allowing both Morse and Fitzgerald to come around to score on a Little League, two-run homer.
During the home half of the final inning, the Seawolves went down in order against Hofstra starting pitcher Carley Ernst, who had their number all day. The right-hander cruised to a complete-game shutout, pitching to three hits, three hit-by-pitches and six strikeouts across her seven innings of work.
Like its lineup, Stony Brook’s pitchers struggled as well. Male gave up three runs on five hits, two walks and a strikeout over four innings. Across three innings in relief, Rice coughed up three runs (one earned), six knocks and two free passes while striking out a single batter.
“[Male] started out well and was in good command,” Bryant said. “I think if we had generated some offense early, we could have looked for a little momentum there and we didn’t do that. At the end of the day, we gave up too many hits and didn’t do enough ourselves offensively.”
With the series on the line on Sunday, the Seawolves prevailed in a pitchers’ duel, thanks to a stellar performance by Maday on Senior Day.
Right off the bat, Stony Brook was finally able to crack Ernst, though it came unearned. With McFarland on third base and two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Vannelli stepped up to the plate and sent a routine grounder toward Hofstra second baseman Nicole Cancel. However, Cancel booted the ball, allowing Vannelli to reach base safely and McFarland to come home with the game’s first run.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Pride had a glorious chance to deadlock the contest and potentially take the lead. Hofstra loaded the bases with one out, but Yepez failed to cash in, as Maday induced a ground ball off Yepez’s bat that McFarland went home with to get a forceout. With three ducks remaining on the pond, Maday whiffed Villar to end the threat.
The Pride scattered four hits against Maday across the following three innings, but she left them all stranded, setting the stage for the Seawolves to tack onto their lead in the bottom of the fifth. With Costello in scoring position and two outs, Vannelli broke through by drilling an RBI double into the left-center field gap to make it 2-0.
“As a freshman, [Vannelli] has confidence as a hitter and an ability to work a count,” Bryant said. “She’s got a great eye and I thought she showed a lot of composure to come up big for us.”
Following a clean top of the sixth, Maday got in and out of trouble in the seventh inning. With one on and one out, Butler sent a grounder back toward Maday, who made a poor throw to second base, leaving everyone safe. With the tying runs on base, Maday struck out Morse swinging for the second out before getting Palacio to ground out to seal the victory.
In her final game at University Field, Maday rose to the occasion. After working most of the season as a reliever, the graduate student delivered a complete-game shutout on 124 pitches, punching out six batters while allowing six hits and two walks across seven frames.
“It was an important day for us,” Maday said. “I really wanted to perform for the team and this group of seniors. We were in this together and throughout the game, we knew we wanted to play for each other. It’s a special team and we just wanted to make today as special as we could.”
Along with Maday, McFarland, Costello, Reinstein and Male were all honored as they concluded their final games in front of their home crowd over the weekend. On the bittersweet occasion, McFarland — who went 2-for-3 with a run scored during her farewell to University Field — expressed gratitude for her time with the Seawolves over these past five years.
“It’s hard to put into one quote,” McFarland said. “Spending five years here is a long time and I’m really happy that I did it. I’ve grown so much as a player and as a person with the coaching staff and the players that have come in through this program. I’ve really cherished my time here.”
Overall, Maday’s 12 ⅓ shutout innings over the weekend earned her a CAA Pitcher of the Week nod, as she racked up 10 strikeouts while allowing eight hits and two walks.
In addition to her performance during the series finale, McFarland 3-for-6 with an RBI and a pair of runs. With her five-hit weekend, McFarland’s season total climbed to a CAA-leading 70, giving her a new career high.
Behind her in the order, Costello extended her hitting streak to 20 games, going 5-for-9 with a double, a run batted in, two runs and a stolen base. Allen went 4-for-10 with an RBI, a run and a steal.
Vannelli went 2-for-8 with a two-bagger, two RBIs and a hit-by-pitch. Scheitinger delivered two hits in six at-bats with an RBI, a walk and was plunked once. Reinstein went 2-for-8 and drove in a run.
While Simpkins failed to record a hit in her lone official plate appearance, she walked and crossed the plate. Ackerman went hitless in eight tries but scored a run.
With the Seawolves’ home schedule now complete, they will head to Philadelphia to take on the Drexel Dragons for their final regular-season series of the year. The Dragons have struggled mightily this season, going 3-40 overall and 3-21 in CAA play. Drexel was swept by Towson over the weekend and has lost its last seven games. Conversely, Stony Brook will look to win its seventh straight conference series and eighth in nine tries this season. First pitch for the series opener is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday.
George Caratzas also contributed reporting.
