Garden City, N.Y. - For the fourth time in six years, the Adelphi University softball team will play for a Northeast-10 Championship, and the heroics of
Kailah Konkel got them there.
The sophomore shortstop drove in a career-best three runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth inning, to help put the defending champions and top seeds out of the NE10's Southwest Division back in the title game, 5-4 over the second-seeded team out of the Northeast Division, Southern New Hampshire in Friday's semifinals.
The Panthers (29-19-1) will face Pace (27-19) for the league's tournament crown on Janet L. Ficke Field on Saturday at noon. The Setters, the second seeds out of the Southwest, upset Northeast champions Saint Anselm in Sautrday's second semifinal, 2-0.
With Adelphi trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Konkel snapped an 0-for-29 skid at the plate dating back exactly a month with a two-run blast in the fourth inning against SNHU's Maddy Barone, breaking up the shutout bid and pulling Adelphi to within one at 3-2.
Later, with the game tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth and
Nicole Camera on second after stealing and reaching on a fielder's choice, Konkel legged out a two-out infield single which saw Camera come around to score the game-winning run.
Adelphi took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, as a one-out single for
Krista King led to the game-tying run.
Brenna Martini, voted the NE10 Player of the Year for a third straight year earlier this week, smoked an RBI single to right center to tie the game at 3-3, before her senior classmate Camera chased home pinch-runner
Kristin Fealy with a go-ahead double.
However, the Penmen hit back immediately in the top of the sixth with some small ball, as two infield singles against
Jessica Vadala led to the game-tying run at 4-4.
While Konkel's bat powered the comeback, Vadala's arm did help it along. The junior threw 5.1 innings of one-run softball in relief of
Ally Muller, entering the game in the third inning and going the distance to pick up her fifth win of the season. Vadala scattered five hits and one lone run across her outing, walking two (one intentional) and striking out one.
SNH took a 3-0 lead after three innings of play in the first meeting between the two clubs in 2018, as they scratched out a run against Muller in the second and two in the third. However, the Penmen also stranded six runners on base over the first four innings as they looked to stretch their lead before the Panthers began their comeback effort.
The Panthers took two of three game against the Setters in the regular season, which included a home sweep on April 17, 3-2 and 7-0.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 26 regular season conference titles, 28 tournament championships, 37 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.
