With the graduation of six seniors from the 2025 Fontbonne varsity softball team, this season’s squad had to reseed itself from the ranks of eight incoming freshmen.
One particular freshman glad to make the team is Lauren Kmiotek, who will be joining her All-Star senior sister Kate, who is already committed to play at Stony Brook University upon graduation. This current sister combination is the school’s third installment of “Sister Act 3,” with two other previous sets of sisters having played together over the past two decades.
Freshman Lauren Kmiotek, left, joins her All-Star senior sister Kate on this year’s varsity team.
Grace McGinn pulls in safely at third base with a triple, beating the throw from right field.
In addition to All-Star pitcher Kate Kmiotek, three other upperclassmen return to the team, including fellow senior Kylie Mendez as Fontbonne’s defensive specialist in center field. From the junior class, another 2025 Brooklyn Tablet All-Star returns, Sam Spyliopulos, who anchors the infield at shortstop. Also, the much-improved junior Grace McGinn moves from third base to first base to take advantage of her sure-handed glove.
For their first league game of the season, the Bonnies hosted the 0-1 Monsignor McClancy Crusaders from Queens, who suffered a 14-3 loss to open their schedule against Xaverian. In the bottom of the first inning, the Bonnies were first to get on the board after McGinn was hit by a pitch and was eventually forced home on a bases-loaded walk.
After walking three Fontbonne batters in the first inning to force in the first run of the game, McClancy’s junior pitcher Rosalie DeStefano settled down and struck out seven Bonnies over the course of the second to the fourth inning as part of her six-inning, 12-strikeout game.
Despite DeStefano’s early dominance on the mound, the Bonnies would catch up to the Crusaders’ star pitcher by the fifth inning during the third time around in the batting order to put two winning runs across the plate.
With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Kmiotek hit a soft liner up the middle to score McGinn from third. Freshman Lauren Cassidy followed with a single and eventually scored on a double by fellow freshman Tallulah Henderson to give Fontbonne a 3-1 lead. The Crusaders closed the scoring gap quickly in the bottom of the sixth after a leadoff triple to center field and a subsequent fielder’s choice play to make the score 3-2.
Looking to tack on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, McGinn led the frame off with a booming triple to the right field fence, but she was left stranded to end the inning. After giving up two runs on five hits, Kmiotek held the Crusaders scoreless in the seventh inning to end the game on her fourth strikeout for a 3-2 Fontbonne win.