Farmingdale, NY - For the second time this week, the College of Mount Saint Vincent and St. Joseph's University Brooklyn are going toe-to-toe at Farmingdale State College. But this time around, the stakes are as high as it gets. The Dolphins and Bears are scheduled to face-off in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday, with the winner moving onto the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament at Manhattanville College later this week. 

The turnaround for a CMSV softball program that earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2019 is an impressive one.  

Head coach Kevin Carbon took the helm of the program in February, just weeks before the first game. Despite his deep Skyline Conference connections with a past stop at Sarah Lawrence, he had the tall task of getting to know a roster with 11 new faces in 2023. Everyone involved wasted no time getting on the right page, as the team entered Skyline play winners in 11 of 17 games and were victors in their first six conference contests. 

Their 21 regular season wins tied for the highest total since 2014. 

The offense is balanced and features both new and old faces. Senior leader Jocelyn Vega has led the ship with a dominant .449/.481/.724 slash line while freshmen Simone Caruso, Sabrina Colon and Nichole Reyes have impressed in their first collegiate seasons. Katie Hutter, Kaitlin Cirillo and Sierra Romero and their veteran presences round out the unit. 

Hutter joins junior Charlotte Kelly and freshmen Savannah Autobee and Serena Duran, each of whom have found varying levels of success throughout the season. 

Despite dropping both games to the Bears just a week ago, Carbon and the Dolphins are up for the challenge of shocking the Skyline.