May 2, 2003

Box Score

Cheryl Cosenzo's leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth for Queens capped a wild back-and-forth battle with Adelphi (32-14) to help the Knights come away with a 12-11, eight-inning victory over the Panthers in the first day of competition at the 2003 NYCAC Softball Tournament at Molloy College Friday afternoon.

Queens will face C.W. Post at 2:00 on Saturday in a battle between the tournament's top two seeds. The Pioneers shut out New Haven 5-0 at C.W. Post behind a solo home run from Michelle Bettles and a three-run blast off the bat of Kim Logana.

The Queens-Adelphi saw five lead changes, with Adelphi collecting single runs in the third and fourth innings before Natalie D'Amico's three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth gave the Knights their first lead at 3-2. The Panthers countered with five runs in the fifth to lead 7-3, the first coming on Cheri Pearce's second home run of the day and a two-run single from Tara Rice. However, Queens battled back with six in their half of the inning to make it 9-7 in their favor, with Fran Piazza's RBI double the big hit during that stanza.

Adelphi would cross the plate three times in the sixth to re-take the lead, then added a seeming insurance run on Pearce's RBI single in the seventh. Queens, though tied things up by scoring off a key Panther error and wild pitch in their half of the seventh to send it into extra innings and set the stage for Cosenzo's heroics.

In the first game at Molloy, Adelphi made quick work of the host Lions, scoring three times in the second and third, then adding a pair of scores in the fifth to end the contest. Consecutive home runs by Pearce and Kristine McCarthy to lead off the third made it 5-0, with Ashley Spreer's two-run shot ending the game two innings later.

Adelphi will take on New Haven at 12:00 in an elimination contest.

Saturday's schedule will be as follows:

10:00 a.m. Dowling vs. Molloy (loser eliminated)
12:00 p.m. Adelphi vs. New Haven (loser eliminated)
2:00 p.m. Queens vs. C.W. Post
4:00 p.m. Dowling/Molloy winner vs. Adelphi/New Haven winner (loser eliminated)