St. George, Utah -- Brenna Martini and Stephanie Staiano combined for three home runs and seven RBI as the Adelphi University softball team closed out its West Coast swing with a 9-6 win in game two of a double-header vs. Dixie State University on Saturday.

The junior and senior tandem combined to go 5-6 at the plate in the nightcap with four runs scored, while Martini walked twice, to lead Adelphi (2-6-1) to a win and snap the team's five game winless streak. Nicole Camera and Nicoletta Cuccio also scored a pair of runs in the win, while Camera was the lone Panther to have two hits in a 6-0 setback in the first game of the day. In the circle, Lindsay Mapes picked up her first win of the season, battling through six innings, while Jessica Vadala finished off the game in the seventh.

Game 1
Two of Adelphi's six hits in the opener came in the second inning as their best opportunity to score, as Camera and Lauren Sandelier reached to lead off the frame. However, the Panthers were unable to bring any runs around, as a pop-fly double play off the bat of Megan Lewis ended the threat, and Adelphi had just one runner reach scoring position for the rest of the game. 

For the Trailblazers (14-3), eight hits and three Adelphi errors across the game led to six runs total, including two double steals. The home team scored one in the second and fifth to bookend a pair of two-run middle innings to pick up its second shutout of the series. Leadoff hitter Janessa Bassett went 2-4 at the plate, Dani Barholf drove in two, and Bailey Gaffin and Kenzie Sawyer went a combined 4-6 with four RBI and three runs scored. 

Game 2
Staiano homered to left to lead off the second inning to give Adelphi its first run and lead of the three-game series, and after Mapes wiggled out of first and third, one out in the bottom of the frame, Martini stretched the lead to 3-0 in the third. With one down, the junior over the center field fence to also score Cuccio, who singled ahead of her.

Dixie State (14-3) tied things up in the bottom of the fourth on one swing from Bartholf, who jacked a two-run shot over the left field fence to tie the game at 3-3. The inning began with a leadoff walk to Mallory Paulson, who came around to score the home team's first run on a Gaffin triple ahead of Bartholf's homer. With the bases clear, Basset singled and stole second and Josey Hartman walked to but Mapes in another jam, but she retired the final batter of the inning on a grounder to Fallon McCarthy at first to end the inning.

After Mapes escaped another two-runner situation in the fifth, her team responded with three in the sixth, beginning as Martini took a four pitch walk and Camera was plunked by a pitch to set the table. From there, Kailah Konkel sacrificed them into scoring position, and Staiano and Danielle Cutuli cashed in, singling up the middle to right respectively to plate three runs and take a 6-3 lead. After being given the lead again, Mapes came up clutch in the next frame, as the Trailblazers loaded the bases with none out on two singles and a walk looking to tie the game. From there, the senior retired the next three batters on a pair of strikeouts and a weak foul out to third to preserve the lead and halting the home team's momentum in its tracks.

The final trio of Adelphi runs came in the seventh, after Cuccio reached on a one-out error ahead of Martini's second two-run shot of the game, this one to left center to make it an 8-3 game. After Camera reached on the second Trailblazer error of the inning, she was singled in by Staiano with two down to make it 9-3 in favor of Adelphi. As it turned out, Adelphi needed all the insurance in the bottom of the seventh, as back-to-back doubles scored a run and chased Mapes, before Sawyer homered to left off Vadala to make it 9-6. After Bassett walked and stole second with the tying run in the hole, Vadala induced a popup and a groundout to close the game out for the Panthers.

After nearly two weeks off, the Panthers will open their slate at Janet L. Ficke Field with a double-header against NYIT on March 12. First pitch of the double-header is slated for 12 pm.

NOTES
- Staiano tied a career-high in hits in a game and runs scored in the win.
- With 28 career homers, Martini is just four shy of setting a new career program record, currently held by Jessica Vogt ('09).

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 20 regular season conference titles, 24 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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