Garden City, N.Y. - A highly-anticipated re-match of last year's NE10 Championship resulted in a split of a doubleheader Friday between the No. 16 Adelphi University softball team and conference rival Saint Anselm College at Janet L. Ficke Field.

Game 1: Adelphi 2, Saint Anselm 3 - F/10
Extra innings has seemingly become a regular occurrence when Adelphi and Saint Anselm go head-to-head. In both of their postseason meetings in 2022, the Panthers and Hawks needed more than the minimum seven innings.

But unlike last year's NE10 Championship final, Adelphi wasn't the prevailing team in the 2023 conference opener for both sides.

After a couple of errors put the hosts in a 3-1 deficit in the top of the tenth, Adelphi took its own turn at a rally in the bottom half.

With the ghost runner in play, the Panthers had the tying run at the plate at the start of the inning. On the first pitch, Sabrina Morales drove an RBI double down the left-field line to cut the deficit to 3-2.

With Morales sacrificed to third and the tying run only sixty feet away, Tierney Fitzgerald popped up a squeeze bunt that doubled Morales off of third to end the game.

Lindsey Hibbs, who currently leads all of NCAA Division II in strikeouts per seven innings by a healthy margin, added thirteen more strikeouts to her season total in her start.

Game 2: Adelphi 9, Saint Anselm 6
The Panthers bounced back in impressive fashion in the nightcap. In the first inning alone, the Adelphi offense exploded for a five-spot and jumped out to a commanding lead.

In sending eleven batters to the plate in their first turn at-bat, the Brown and Gold got five different RBI hits, highlighted by an RBI triple from Alexa Sacripante.

Sacripante finished a home run short of the cycle in Game 2, going a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

Adelphi led 5-0 and 6-3, before an error-plagued sixth let Saint Anselm right back in it. As Hibbs came on to relieve Claire Fon in a tight spot, the Hawks took advantage of an Angela Lignelli throwing error to tie the score at 6-6.

Saint Anselm created its own misfortune in the home sixth, and Adelphi -- this time -- capitalized. With two outs, Zee Zee Shreter put a ball in play that came up on the Saint Anselm second baseman and scored Brianna Fischer for the go-ahead run.

Sacripante, who had the hot bat already, then tacked on a key two-RBI double into the left-center field gap that expanded Adelphi's lead.

Even despite getting the Game 1 loss, Hibbs came out on the winning side in relief in Game 2. Four of the five outs she recorded came via the strikeout.

Head Coach Carla Campagna and her Adelphi squad are back in action Sunday (Mar. 26) with a 12 p.m. first pitch at Janet L. Ficke Field against NE10 foe Southern New Hampshire University.