Garden City, N.Y. -- Newly-crowned Northeast-10 Conference Player and Defensive Players of the Year, Brenna Martini and Nicole Camera, combined for three RBIs to lead the Adelphi University softball team past the University of New Haven, 5-1, in the first round of the NE-10 Tournament on Ficke Field on Wednesday.

With the win, the Panthers (28-19), the No. 3 seeds out of the Southwest Division, advance to Friday's quarterfinals at top-seeded Pace University, where they will face the No. 2 seeds out of the Northeast, Stonehill College.

Camera and Martini went a combined 2-5 at the plate with three RBIs, while Krista King went 2-4 with two runs scored at the top of the lineup and Megan Lewis also had a 2-4 day at the plate. Lindsay Mapes picked up with win, as she pitched all seven innings, allowing an unearned run while striking out two.

After Mapes and Nicole King traded a pair of scoreless innings to begin, the Panthers struck first in the bottom of the third to take a lead they'd never relinquish. With two outs, King singled and stole second ahead of a walk to Nicoletta Cuccio. From there, Martini singled up the middle to plate King for Adelphi's first run -- and that 1-0 lead stood up until the fifth.

After King singled and Cuccio was hit by a pitch, a deep fly off Martini's bat to left advanced them both into scoring position. Camera duly took advantage, as she singled to left to plate a pair of runs and took second on the throw. After a New Haven pitching change, Lewis reached on an error as the Chargers' Victoria Cabral threw the ball away from first base which allowed Camera to score and make it 4-0.

The Panthers closed out the scoring in the sixth, as Christina Palmenteri singled to lead off before stealing second. She advanced to third on a wild pitch, and as Cuccio walked, the New Haven catcher's pickoff attempt went down the left field line and allowed Palmenteri to score Adelphi's fifth run. 

Looking to close it out, Mapes allowed a one-out single to Devlin, who then came around to score when Cabral's single was misplayed in the outfield to break up the shutout. However, she rebounded by getting a groundout and strikeout to end the game.

The Panthers get a day off tomorrow before facing the Skyhawks in Pleasantville, with game time scheduled for 2:30 pm.

NOTES
- Camera and Martini were two of Adelphi's league-high seven All-Conference honorees, as announced by the conference office of Tuesday.
- Martini is two RBIs shy of tying the single-season RBI record of 57, which was set by current assistant coach Victoria Wink in 2013.

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About Adelphi 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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