Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University softball team pulled away with two Northeast-10 Conference wins over Southern Connecticut State University on Wednesday afternoon after learning that they are the number one team in the NCAA East Region. 

Game 1: Adelphi 2, SCSU 0
The game was determined in the bottom of the fifth inning after four scoreless frames from both Adelphi (30-10, 17-3 NE10) and Southern Connecticut (13-17, 8-10 NE10).

The two-run rally started with Lauren O'Neill's outfield single. Ashley Lombardi dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance O'Neill to scoring position. Courtney Wengryn stepped to the plate and placed a slow moving ball right in front of second base that scored O'Neill. Ziara Shreter kept the offense going with her fly ball that landed in right center to score Wengryn. 

Claire Fon went to work inside the circle, not allowing the Owls any opportunities to put runners in scoring position. Adelphi had seven hits to the Owls none, but left five base runners stranded. 

Fon threw another seven-inning complete game shutout. She was one base runner away from a perfect game, striking out four and allowing no hits. Additionally, she had five assists for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage on the game. Fon now leads the conference with a 0.96 ERA on the season.

Game 2: Adelphi 6, SCSU 1
Game 2 also started off quiet, with no runners in scoring position from either team until the top of the fourth. Southern Connecticut strung together a walk and a double to take the lead for the first time of the evening. 

Adelphi struggled to find a way to get on base through the fourth inning. Ashley Lombardi started a two-out rally with a double off the left field fence and was replaced by Courtney Murphy on second. Brianna Pearson pinch hit for the next batter and put one on the ground up the middle to score Murphy to tie the game 1-1.

The hosts came alive in the sixth inning and capitalized on Southern Connecticut fielding errors to take the lead. The Panthers batted around the order and produced five hits and four runs. Ziara Shreter was the first batter of the inning and reached first on an error and advanced to second on the play. Alexa Sacripante reached on another error two batters later that scored Shreter. Kendall Winn contributed with a one-hopper off the left field fence that was good for two RBIs and two bases. Lauren O'Neill and Courtney Wengryn both had outfield singles that scored the fourth and fifth runs of the inning. 

Lindsey Hibbs earned the start in Game 2 and lasted 3.2 innings. She retired six batters and allowed just two hits before Claire Fon replaced her. Fon threw 3.1 innings of scoreless softball. She allowed only one more hit and struck out four additional batters to take the win and advance to 16-3 on the season.