Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University softball team used 12 hits in game one, including three home runs to take an 11-3 victory from the University of New Haven Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately the Panthers (6-8-1, 1-1 NE10) picked up the split, losing to the Chargers (8-4, 1-1 NE10) in game two by an identical score.
Brenna Martini led the Panthers at the dish on Tuesday, going 4-5 over both games, with three runs scored and one RBI.
Nicoletta Cuccio, who was 2-5 at the plate in the opener, knocked out her first homer of the season as
Nicole Camera joined suit with a 1-2 game at the plate, scoring three times for the Brown and Golf.
Game One
The Chargers were first to get on the board in game one of the NE10 tilt at Janet L. Ficke field, as Gabby DeLeo poked a single through the right side, scoring Erin Stever. Adelphi escaped the inning, stranding two runners on the bases before any more damage was done. In the following bottom half of the inning Steph Staiano picked up two RBI with a single to right field, scoring Martini and Camera to regain the lead. Elizabeth Berard and
Krista King drove in a run before the inning was through, helping the hosts to a 4-1 lead after three.
Lindsay Mapes (4-3) quieted the New Haven bats in the fourth, allowing her offense to get back to work in the next frame. The Panthers added two more runs courtesy of a
Danielle Cutuli double to center field, which plated
Lauren Sandelier and Camera, extending the home team advantage to five runs. The visitors managed to push across two more runs to cut into their deficit, but the Brown and Gold were able to match those with back-to-back solo home runs from Cuccio and Martini.
Cuccio doubled and scooted across home in the bottom of the sixth on a wild pitch, during which Martini was drawing a walk. Camera blasted a near over-the-fence homer in her at-bat that ricocheted off the right-center fence and used her wheels to get around to home, just in time to pick up the run-rule victory for the home team.
Game Two
In a battle similar to game one New Haven put up four runs in the top of the first, using three hits and one error to take a 4-0 lead. Adelphi stayed right in the contest however, putting up three runs of their own in the bottom half on three hits, taking advantage of three walks given up by Megan Butts (5-0). The visiting Chargers added one run in the top of the second and two more in the third to extend their lead, all while keeping the Panthers to two hits through the fourth.
After a scoreless fourth inning for both teams, the Chargers pushed their lead to eight with one swing of the bat in the fifth inning, a grand slam from the rookie left fielder Catherine Vaughn. The visitors batted around for the second time in the game in the fifth inning with the first home run of Vaughn's collegiate career driving in Schiebe, DeLeo and Whitlock. Two hits for the hosts attempted to get a rally started in the bottom half but the deficit was too great to overcome, ending the game in identical fashion to the first, but in favor of New Haven.
Adelphi softball will attempt to take advantage of the melted remains of winter storm Stella as they host Holy Family University on Thursday, March 23 with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 21 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 33 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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