Garden City, N.Y. - Behind the bats in game one and
Ally Muller's right arm in game two, the Adelphi University softball team opened Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division play with a doubleheader sweep of the Southern Connecticut State University Owls on Tuesday afternoon, 7-0 and 1-0.
In two contrasting games, the Panthers (11-11-1) pounded out seven runs on 10 hits in game one, in which
Christina Rizzi smoked two doubles for three RBIs and
Nicoletta Cuccio launched a two-run home run, her third of the season, to help Adelphi to the win.
In game two, Muller and Victoria Ceballos traded zeros for nearly six full innings, but a leadoff triple for
Nicole Camera proved to be the key hit in the bottom of the sixth. In the next at-bat, Rizzi drove her in on a sacrifice fly for the difference in the game.
In the circle,
Nicole Mengel followed up her five innings of no-hit softball from Sunday afternoon with a win in her second collegiate start, as she went six-plus innings with two walks and five strikeouts, before
Jessica Vadala finished off the game in relief in the seventh.
Muller struck out a career-best 10 in game two, the highest total for a Panther pitcher in a single game this season, over seven innings, and was two outs away from a no-hitter before Delany Turner broke it up with a double to left center in the seventh.
Game 1
Krista King and Camera helped lead to the first two runs of the afternoon for Adelphi in the bottom of the first with their bats and their legs, as King legged out an infield single and stole second as the first batter, before Camera walked and also swiped second with two down to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Rizzi cashed them in with a booming double to right center, and she scampered home on
Kailah Konkel's single to left to make a 3-0 game after one.
That lead stood for Adelphi behind Mengel until the fourth, when Adelphi added its fourth run on a triple by
Lauren O'Neill. The freshman raced home on the play as the right fielder's throw sailed wide of third base to make it 4-0 Adelphi, and the Brown and Gold scored three more times in the final two innings as Rizzi drove in her third run in the fifth, and Cuccio launched her homer in the sixth to push the lead to 7-0.
Pushing for the complete-game shutout, Mengel faced the first two batters of the seventh, but her throwing error and a walk put two on for the Owls, and the Panthers changed pitchers to Vadala from there. The junior later worked out of a bases-loaded situation, inducing a fielder's choice for an out at the plate, a popup and a strikeout swinging against the top of the Owls' order to preserve the win.
Game 2
Muller and Ceballos were evenly matched for the duration of the contest, as both starters worked in and out of trouble over the first two innings. The Adelphi freshman worked around two errors behind her in the field, a stolen base and a walk in the first two frames, while Ceballos stranded three Panthers after two hits and a walk.
From there, Muller found her groove, and retired the next 13 batters as she worked on the no-hit bid, before Adelphi finally gave her a run to work with in the sixth. A two-out single from
Brenna Martini in the third, a lead-off double for
Lauren Sandelier in the fourth, and a two-out double for Cuccio in the fifth all saw the Panthers threaten, but they finally came through on the Camera-Rizzi combination in the fourth and fifth slots in the lineup.
SCSU would not go quietly after its first hit, as the Owls put the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first after Adelphi's third error in the field in contest, but Muller wiggled out of the jam with a fly out and her 10th strikeout to end the game.
Adelphi is back in action on the road this weekend, kicking off a four-game series against the American International College Yellow Jackets at 12 p.m. on Friday, March 30.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 25 regular season conference titles, 26 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.
For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at www.aupanthers.com or via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.
