By: Jerry Reilly
The 2025 Fredonia State women's softball season begins Sunday with a doubleheader in Clermont, Fla.
The Blue Devils open their season at 9 a.m. against Springfield College at Hancock Park, the site of 10 of 12 games on the annual spring trip. It's also the first of two games Sunday for the Blue Devils. They will meet Rowan University, also at Hancock Park, at 11:15 a.m.
Head Coach Tony Ciccarello -- in his 24th season of college coaching and his 12th at Fredonia State -- guided the Blue Devils to fifth-place finish and a SUNYAC Tournament appearance in 2024. Eleven players return, led by First Team All SUNYAC shortstop Allie Wandell. A senior from Newark, N.Y., Wandell batted .333 last season, including .429 in conference games, with three doubles and three triples among her team-leading 39 hits.
She also stole 11 bases and drove in 16 runs while playing in all 39 games, the only Blue Devil to do so.
"Allie is a hard worker and a great leader," Ciccarello said after Wandell was named all-conference last spring. "When she was successful, we were successful. She led our push to the SUNYAC Tournament and excelled in the tournament."
Other returning regulars include senior outfielder Megan Guidry, junior catcher-third baseman Avery Hill, and a pair of sophomores – second baseman Madison Devore and pitcher-outfielder Madison Lowe. Devore batted .271, fourth among starters, while Lowe batted .253 and tied for second on the team with 15 RBI. She also made 13 pitching appearances, five of them starts.
Vanessa Galbraith, a graduate student returning for her fifth season, is coming off her best season in the circle. She has made 70 appearances over her collegiate career, including 19 in 2024 – 13 of them starts – while leading the team in wins a 7-7 record to go along with a 4.20 earned run average. Mack Celauro, a junior, returns to the pitching staff, which also includes sophomore Kendall Phillips and freshman Sabrina Edwards-Smith.
A transfer to Fredonia, Phillips led Brockport with a 5-8 record as a freshman in 2024. She also struck out 135 batters in 102 1/3 innings pitched, totals which led her team and would have led the Blue Devils, too. In fact, one of her wins was an eighth-inning complete game 1-0 decision over Fredonia State at Brockport, a hard-luck loss for Emily Chelius, who struck out 10 in defeat.
Chelius won 18 games and batted .269 with 47 RBI over five seasons at Fredonia State. She and catcher-outfielder Alyssa Santiago were starters lost to graduation. Santiago had her best collegiate season in 2024 with a .286 batting average and 15 RBI.
Ciccarello, in his 24th season of collegiate coaching, the last 12 at Fredonia State, will be assisted for the third season by Caitlyn Cybart. Joining the staff is pitching coach Stacie Peters, a 2003 Fredonia State graduate who played for former head coach Lorrie Corsi.
