Rindge, N.H. - The Adelphi University softball team was a big winner and a hard-luck loser in a pair of Northeast-10 Conference games at Franklin Pierce University on Saturday.

A seven-run third inning powered the Brown and Gold (16-13, 9-2 NE10) to an eventual 11-2 victory over five innings in game one, but the Panthers fell in walk-off fashion in 10 innings in game two, 4-3, after Nicoletta Cuccio hit a two-out two-run homer in the top of the seventh that forced extra softball.

In the opener, Adelphi's big third inning came courtesy of eight hits and one Raven miscue, as a two-run double for Emily Turney opened the scored in an inning in which the Panthers batted around and then some.

Emily Whitman led off the frame with a bunt single, and capped Adelphi's run-scoring effort with a two-run single later in the inning, which also saw Kailah Konkel and Ashley Lombardi knock in runs with base hits.

Later, Whitman and Turney were also responsible for two RBI hits in Adelphi's four-run fifth that helped put the game to bed, while Cuccio and Elisabeth Berard drove in two more. 

In the nightcap, the Ravens took advantage of a few free bases in the opening inning, with two walks and two hit batters ultimately leading to three runs, capped with a two-run single by Lexi Garcia.

Adelphi got one back in the sixth on Konkel's sacrifice fly, before Whitman's two-out triple set the stage for Cuccio's blast to left that forced extras. In the ensuing frames, the two teams combined to leave five runners on base, before the international tiebreaker rule took effect in the 10th, putting a runner on second base for both teams to begin each half of the 10th. 

After Adelphi was unable to score Cuccio in the top of the inning, a wild pitch, a walk and an infield single loaded the bases against Ally Muller in the bottom of the inning, before Ashley Conway walked it off for the Ravens (6-18, 2-8 NE10) with an RBI single to left.

Despite getting tagged with the loss, Jessica Vadala hurled 8.1 innings for the Panthers in relief, a season-high, in game two after Nicole Mengel departed in the first, and tied a career-best with five strikeouts. 

Cuccio scored four runs across the two games, giving her 21 for the season to date and 157 for her career - putting her just four behind former teammate and current assistant coach Brenna Martini's all-time program record of 161. 

The Panthers will next square off against Southern New Hampshire, the first-place team in the Northeast side of the NE10 on Sunday, in a 12 p.m. doubleheader.

The Penmen were ranked 16th in the nation in the last edition of the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) Division II poll.

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About Adelphi Athletics
A regionally and nationally competitive NCAA Division II institution located in Garden City, N.Y., Adelphi University has been a proud member of the Northeast-10 Conference since 2009.

Winners of 16 NCAA Division II National Championships and four NE10 Presidents' Cups, Panther athletes have excelled at the conference, regional and national level, both on the field of play and in the classroom. In turn, the Adelphi athletic department is committed to fostering an environment of diversity, inclusion, equity and success where its student-athletes can thrive both on campus and off.

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