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NAC SOFTBALL EAST AND WEST PRESEASON POLLS
WATERVILLE, Me. (April 1, 2021) - The SUNY Delhi softball team was voted fifth in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) West Division Preseason Poll, as announced by the conference Thursday. The Broncos, who are new to the NAC this spring, received eight points. Leading the West was SUNY Cobleskill, who received 23 points with three first-place votes. Cazenovia College ranked second with 20 points and two first-place votes. SUNY Canton and SUNY Poly were tied for third with 12 points.
Head Coach Meagan Stone's team opened their season on Tuesday, sweeping Wells by 12-4 and 10-2 scores. The Broncos combined for 22 hits, including freshman Kitty Messina batting 3-for-4 in both games and totaling four RBIs and one double. First-game pitcher and newcomer Mel Papuli struck out 11 batters in her Delhi debut, while helping her cause with a two-RBI triple. Sophomore pitcher Katelynn Rose struck out two batters in the night cap, and helped herself out with a bases-clearing double during the Broncos' seven-run first inning. She finished batting 2-for-2 with two doubles, four RBIs, and one walk. Sophomore infielder Kayla Beers combined for three RBIs and batted 3-for-5 over both contests with one double.
Coach Stone is in her third season commanding the Broncos. She arrived for the 2019 season, inheriting a team that went winless the year before. The team turned things around with an 11-15 record for their first double-digit win season since 2016 and earning one USCAA All-American. The team's 2020 record stood at 3-7 at the time of cancellation, which included a doubleheader sweep of current NAC opponent Northern Vermont Lyndon and an eight-game stay in Florida.
The Broncos return seven players, including senior middle infielder Shelby Nolan, who led the team last season with a .448 batting average (13-for-29) and five doubles, while posting eight RBIs. Senior outfielder and leadoff hitter Jaylynn Sheppard is back after leading the team last year with seven stolen bases. Rose, who also serves at first base when not pitching, led Delhi's returning student-athletes with nine RBIs from 2020 with one home run. Junior Mackenzie Sparacino made her first diamond appearance Tuesday at Wells after sitting out last season for medical reasons. Alongside Sheppard as a solid baserunner, Sparacino moves to the outfield after spending her freshman season in the middle infield, when she led the team with 11 stolen bases.
New to the coaching staff this season is recent SUNY Delhi graduate Sierra Keesler, who joins her father, fifth-year coach Greg Keesler, as assistant coaches. Sierra Keesler competed for the Broncos from 2018 to 2020 and was a 2019 USCAA All-American. She totaled 11 career home runs with 62 RBIs and held a lifetime batting average of .395 (77-for-195) and a .672 slug percentage. She also bagged 11 career doubles and five triples.
The NAC playoff structure includes the top two finishers from the NAC West and the NAC East. The division winners will be decided in a head-to-head three-game series over May 8 and 9. The division champions will then compete for the NAC Championship in a three-game series, hosted by the West division winner, on May 15 and 16.
Over in the six-team NAC East, Husson led the poll with 35 points and five first-place votes. Second was Thomas with 27 points, then Maine Presque Isle third with 25 points and one first-place votes, Maine Farmington fourth with 21 points, Northern Vermont Johnson fifth with 11 points, and Northern Vermont Lyndon sixth with seven points.
