La Jolla, Calif. -- A six-run sixth inning, capped by a two-run home run from Brenna Martini, led the Adelphi University softball team to a 7-6 victory of the Tritons of the University of California, San Diego in game one of a double-header and the first of the team's 2016 season. The Tritons rebounded to take the second game, 13-0, in five innings to earn a split on the afternoon. With the victory in game one, Head Coach Bree Nasti became the fourth to reach the 100-win plateau at the helm of the program.

Game 1
With the game tied 1-1 in the sixth, Lauren Sandelier led off the inning with a double and Danielle Cutuli followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Pinch-hitting in her first collegiate appearance, Nicoletta Cuccio drove them both in with a triple to right center to give Adelphi (1-0) the lead, before the Panthers added another run behind an RBI squeeze play from Krista King and Nicole Camera duly doubled her home. Martini's first home run of the season came in the next at bat, as she parked the ball in left center to give Adelphi a 7-1 lead -- which they needed as the Tritons (9-2) scored five in the final two innings. 

Martini went 2-2 in the game with two walks and a team-leading three RBIs, as she also drove in Adelphi's first run of the game. Sandelier and Cuccio each went 2-4 at the plate with two runs scored, while Camera also scored a run and walked twice. Lindsay Mapes got the win for the Brown and Gold, throwing all seven innings and striking out five. 

The Panthers got on the board first as Camera walked with one down in the top of the first and was driven home by Martini, who ripped a double to center field to put Adelphi up 1-0. Adelphi got another opportunity in the third, as they loaded the bases with nobody out, but Tritons' starter Lexi Edwards got out of the jam to keep it a one-run game. 

Mapes cruised through the first two innings before facing some adversity in the third, as UC San Diego pushed runners to second and third before she retired the side and kept Adelphi in the lead. However, the home team scratched out a run in the fourth to tie the game, advancing a runner to third with two sacrifice bunts before a double drove her home and reset the game at 1-1. 

Following Adelphi's big sixth, the Tritons rallied for three runs in the bottom of the frame, before Mapes stranded the tying runners on base. After working around a Christina Palmenteri double in the top of the seventh, UCSD came alive in their last stand as three of the first four batters recorded hits to make it a one-run game. Mapes struck out Emma Schneider swinging, and after the game-winning run reach base via an infield hit, induced the grounder to Martini to end the game.

Game 2
Adelphi fell behind in the first inning of game two, as Kristin Fealy was tagged for four runs in the first inning. The Panthers (1-1) had few opportunities on offense in the second game, with their biggest threat coming in the top of the third. Cutuli led off with a double before Palmenteri walked to put two runners on with one out. However, Krista King and Camera were both retired to end the threat. 

The Tritons (10-2) put the game away in the bottom of the inning, as they scored three more runs that were charged to Fealy and another five off of her relief Jessica Vadala. Adelphi loaded the bases with two down in the top of the fourth after Martini led off with a double and Megan Lewis and Cutuli were each issued free passes, but Fallon McCarthy flied out to deep center field and Adelphi was kept off the board. The Tritons tacked on the final run of the game off of Camera in the bottom of the fourth, before retiring the Panthers to end the game in the fifth. 

The Panthers return to action tomorrow, when they head to Irvine, Calif. to take on Concordia University in a double-header at 4 pm and 6 pm EST.

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About Adelphi University Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 16 regular season conference titles, 21 tournament championships, 27 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 President's Cup twice (2013 and 2014), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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