ETHAN TAM/THE STATESMAN
The Stony Brook softball team advanced to the title game of the 2021 America East Softball Championship, falling just short of a ring to a familiar foe. The third-seeded Seawolves lost two games against No. 1 seed UMBC, who took home its second consecutive title both against Stony Brook. The Seawolves also won two games against Albany in the double-elimination tournament but had no answer for the best pitcher in the conference.
UMBC junior Courtney Coppersmith, the America East Pitcher of the Year, allowed one run in three playoff starts. She threw a 1-0 shutout in Saturday’s decisive game, securing the victory even though Stony Brook senior Dawn Bodrug pitched a one-hitter.
STEPHANIE MACH/THE STATESMAN
If the mark of a great player is that they make the spectacular seem ordinary, then senior pitcher Dawn Bodrug is doing something right.
A lone fifth-inning double spoiled her bid for a perfect game in the Stony Brook softball team’s 2-0 road win over the Seton Hall Pirates on April 14, but that sort of statistic is becoming routine it was the sixth time in Bodrug’s Stony Brook career that she allowed one hit or less in a complete game, and her eighth shutout.
“I was really just hitting my spots, working with my catcher and [assistant coach Candi] Letts,” Bodrug said in a press release. “Every inning we had a game plan for the next inning. They’re an aggressive-hitting team. They like to take their hacks. I just had to hit my spots, work my spin, and obviously rely on my defense. It was a textbook game of just using your defense and making plays.”
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Jourdin Hering runs to first base after hitting the ball during the Stony Brook softball team’s game against UMass Lowell on April 28, 2019. The graduate center fielder had two of the Seawolves’ three hits against James Madison over the weekend.
SARA RUBERG/STATESMAN FILE
Playing four games in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the Stony Brook softball team was swept in a doubleheader by the James Madison Dukes on Friday, March 12 before sweeping the Rhode Island Rams on Saturday, March 13. By going .500 on the weekend, the Seawolves’ record moved to 7-3.
Despite solid pitching performances in all four games, including a 16-strikeout outing by senior Dawn Bodrug, the Seawolves lived and died with their bats. They scored two runs total against James Madison compared to 18 against Rhode Island.
ARACELY JIMENEZ/STATESMAN FILE
Over the past few years, the Stony Brook softball team has accomplished nearly everything there is to accomplish broken records, deep playoff runs, individual accolades but the one thing that has eluded them since 2013 is a championship ring. With a core group of players that ranks among the program’s best ever set to depart after this season, there’s some added pressure to win a title this year.
Fittingly, the Seawolves are early favorites to earn the ring. In an America East preseason poll, five out of six rival coaches predicted the Seawolves would win the conference. But head coach Megan Bryant isn’t scared of the hype.