STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Melissa Rahrich twice has been named America East Player of the Year, one of five players to earn the accolade multiple times since the award's inception in 1992. She also is a presence throughout the Stony Brook softball team's record book.

And now Rahrich, a first baseman and right-handed pitcher from Brighton, Colo., is poised to begin her final season with the Seawolves.

Stony Brook, picked to win America East in the preseason coaches poll, opens its season this weekend in a four-game tournament in Rock Hill, S.C.

Rahrich — a graduate student playing a fifth season after last year's slate was halted due to the pandemic — enters 2021 ranked sixth in program history in total bases (344), ninth in hits (195), fourth in home runs (35) and sixth in RBIs (135).

If she can duplicate her junior-year production, she will depart as the career record-holder in all of those categories.

Her .411 career average ranks third in program history.

"There are a lot of records I have a chance to break," Rahrich said. "Maximizing this season—having a good season — is really important to me. And knowing there's a big, lasting impression that I can make on this school."

Only one student-athlete previously has won three America East Player of the Year honors: Jamie Haas with Boston University in 2002, '03 and '05. The other multi-time winners are April Setterlund (Boston University, 2010-11), Michelle Puls (Maine, 1997-98) and Michelle White (Boston University, 1993, '95).

Still, Rahrich's primary goal is joining her fifth-year teammates — Jourdin Hering, Alina Lance, Jordan Nowakowski and Riley Craig — in earning the program's first America East title since 2015.

"We want that ring," Rahrich said. "That's the end goal. We're not losing sight of that. But we have to stay where our feet are. … This is our fifth year together. That ring is what's going to do it for us."