POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - They came at different times – and from different coasts. And they all shared in the success of the Marist softball team in recent years.
Members of Marist Softball Class of 2020 played on the three winningest teams in program history. All four Red Foxes were part of the 2019 team which won a share of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championship and earned the #1 seed in the conference tournament.
Claire Oberdorf came to Marist from Greensburg, Pennsylvania and was a freshman during the program's winningest season in 2016.
Ali Milam and
Jade Sinskul joined the Red Foxes from Goleta, California the following year. After three seasons at Syracuse,
Andrea Bombace from nearby Wappingers Falls transferred to Marist for the 2019 season.
"I loved the intensity that this class brought to the field every day, and their willingness to win," head coach
Joe Ausanio said.
Here is a closer look at each of the four seniors.
A fifth-year senior,
Claire Oberdorf was the first player to become the Marist Softball Class of 2020, although she didn't play her first game of softball until she had a full season of basketball under her belt.
Obedorf joined the women's basketball program as a walk-on in the fall of 2015, and played in all 32 of the team's games with 20 starts. Five days after her final basketball game of the 2015-16 season, Oberdorf played in her first collegiate softball game. Four days after her collegiate softball debut, she was named MAAC Rookie of the Week after a weekend with a .462 batting average and starts at three different positions.
And that was just the beginning. Oberdorf went on to become an NFCA Top 10 Freshman in 2016, as she won MAAC Rookie of the Year and had a team-leading .376 batting average for the Red Foxes. The team won the conference championship and set the school record with 45 wins.
Oberdorf started every game for the women's basketball team in the 2016-17 season, but a knee injury suffered in the team's final game kept her out of the 2017 softball season. She rebounded to become an all-MAAC performer the next two seasons as the team's primary catcher in 2018, and primary third baseman in 2019. Wherever she played, her all-out style was evident.
Oberdorf made the decision to focus on softball prior to the 2020 season. She led the Red Foxes with a .379 batting average, 14 RBIs, and 16 runs scored, and tied for the team lead with three homers. In the final week of the season, Oberdorf was named MAAC Player of the Week after going 10-for-17 (.588) with 10 RBIs in a five-game tournament at Texas Tech.
Coach Ausanio's thoughts on Oberdorf were as direct as they were effusive.
"Claire is probably the greatest all-around female athlete who has ever attended Marist College," Ausanio said.
In the 2017 season as a freshman,
Ali Milam won one MAAC Rookie of the Week award, started 32 games, and hit .215 with two homers and 10 runs batted in.
Over the next three seasons, she became one of the most feared hitters in the MAAC, and one of the most prolific power hitters in program history.
Milam's 2018 and 2019 seasons mirrored each other to a freakish extent. Not only was she named First team All-MAAC both years, but she had the exact same number of hits (61) and at-bats (172) in both seasons for a .355 average. Her 54 runs batted in in 2018 tied a single-season program record.
Milam saw action at all three outfield positions and first base in her career. Her diving catch against Niagara in the 2019 MAAC Championships lifted the Red Foxes into the final.
In the 2020 season, Milam was rounding her way into form after being limited due to injury early on. In the Red Foxes' final tournament at Texas Tech, Milam hit .550 (11-for-20) with seven RBIs, four runs scored, and a pair of home runs.
The growth Milam showed throughout her career – and not just on the field – left an impression on her head coach.
"Ali is probably the athlete that has matured the most from her freshman to her senior year that I've ever had – on the field, in the classroom, and in life in general," Ausanio said.
In her four years as a Red Fox,
Jade Sinskul helped her team in a variety of ways.
Need a catcher? Jade could do that. How about a shortstop? Made some starts there as a freshman. First base? Moved over there senior year. What about a designated player or pinch hitter? She could handle that too, and have we mentioned that she was a tough out yet?
Sinskul gave the Red Foxes quality at bats through her patience at the plate. Over her junior and senior seasons, she struck out just seven times in 71 at-bats. She hit a career-best .257 in 2020, which included three two-hit games in Marist's five-game tournament at UNC Wilmington.
In the classroom, Sinskul was a multi-year MAAC All-Academic Team selection as a Business Administration major. Her experiences at Marist were chronicled in a
Red Fox Spotlight story.
"She gave us a lot of versatility, and she was always a gamer when the lights where on," Ausanio said. "She was always ready to play, and a pleasure to be around."
Andrea Bombace played scholastically about 10 miles south of Marist and Roy C. Ketcham High School. She began her collegiate career at Syracuse, where she played in 73 games and made 43 starts from 2016-18.
After those three seasons at Syracuse, where Ausanio had high hopes that she could fill the role of a power-hitting first baseman. Unfortunately, Bombace suffered multiple injuries. She was able to make it back toward the end of the 2019 season, and appeared in three games.
Bombace again worked her way back in 2020. She was medically cleared after sitting out the Red Foxes' first two tournaments in February, and made four starts over the final two weeks. Bombace had two hits in 12 at-bats. She had her first hit as a Red Fox in a win at UNC Wilmington on Feb. 29, and doubled in the Red Foxes' triumph over Delaware State on March 6.
Bombace was recently featured in a
Hudson Valley Sports Report story on local athletes' reactions to the end of the 2020 season.
"I wish I could've seen what a healthy
Andrea Bombace could've done for the Red Foxes over the past two years," Ausanio said. "I don't think we got to see her full potential on the field because of injuries."
Claire Oberdorf
- Single Season
- Batting Average: 8th, 2020 (.379); 9th, 2016 (.376)
- Stolen Bases: T-8th, 2019 (18)
- Career
- Stolen Bases: 3rd (50)
- Triples: T-6th (7)
- Batting Average: 7th (.329)
- Runs: 10th (106)
- Runs Batted In: 10th (105)
Ali Milam
- Single Season
- Runs Batted In: T-1st, 2018 (54); T-4th, 2019 (47)
- Home Runs: T-5th, 2018 (11); T-10th, 2019 (10)
- Doubles: T-5th, 2019 (15)
- Career
- Runs Batted In: 5th (120)
- Home Runs: T-8th (24)
- Stolen Bases: T-10th (26)
Claire Oberdorf
- 2016: NFCA Freshman Top 10, NFCA First Team All-Region, MAAC Rookie of the Year, First Team All-MAAC, MAAC All-Tournament Team, First Team All-ECAC, three-time MAAC Rookie of the Week (3/15, 4/12, 4/19).
- 2017: MAAC All-Academic Team.
- 2018: Second Team All-MAAC, MAAC All-Tournament Team, MAAC All-Academic Team, MAAC Player of the Week 4/17.
- 2019: Second Team All-MAAC, MAAC All-Tournament Team, MAAC All-Academic Team.
- 2020: Senior CLASS Award candidate, MAAC Player of the Week 3/10.
Ali Milam
- 2017: MAAC Rookie of the Week, 2/28.
- 2018: First Team All-MAAC, First Team All-ECAC, Second Team NFCA All-Region, MAAC All-Academic Team, MAAC Player of the Week 3/20 & 5/8.
- 2019: First Team All-MAAC, MAAC All-Academic Team, Second Team NFCA All-Region, Player of the Week 2/26 & 3/5.
- 2020: Candidate for Senior CLASS Award.
Jade Sinskul
- 2018: MAAC All-Academic Team, MAAC Player of the Week 2/27.
- 2019: MAAC All-Academic Team.
The Marist Athletics Department is spotlighting the Class of 2020 from the spring sports whose seasons ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 outbreak. To learn more about these seniors, check back on GoRedFoxes.com, and follow Marist Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Senior Spotlights: Women's Tennis (March 23) | Men's Tennis (March 25) | Women's Lacrosse (March 30) | Baseball (April 1) | Water Polo (April 2) | Women's Track and Field | Men's Rowing | Women's Rowing | Men's Lacrosse | Men's Track and Field
