Garden City, N.Y. - On Thursday, the No. 1 seed Adelphi University softball team twice rallied from one-run deficits to walk off against eighth-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College, 3-2, in its 2023 NCAA Division II Championship opener at Janet L. Ficke Field.

With the 'Cats (44-6) down to their last out, Zee Zee Shreter hit a sharp hopper to the first-base side that ate up STAC's Tara Hagan, allowing pinch-runner Courtney Murphy to score the tying run.

A long at-bat by Kendall Winn resulting in a walk set the tone for Adelphi in the seventh. After Jaden Farhat sacrificed Murphy over to second, Angela Lignelli walked with one out and Shreter delivered the crucial two-out contact that sent the game to extras.

The Panthers were mired in another rut in the ninth, but the bottom of the Adelphi lineup came through again.

Trailing 2-1 this time, Farhat and Amanda Owens led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Lignelli then bunted both runners into scoring position, before Shreter and Jordyn Pasqueralli both found holes in the infield to propel the 'Cats to the walk-off victory.

The win ran Adelphi's winning streak to 23 consecutive games, officially surpassing the 1984 Division I Women's College World Series team for the longest winning streak in program history.

Junior pitcher Lindsey Hibbs took the ball for the start and failed to give up a hit until the fifth, when Carissa Della Vecchia homered off Hibbs with two outs to open the scoring.

It was only the seventh roundtripper allowed by the NE10 Pitcher of the Year this season and the first allowed at Janet L. Ficke Field since Mar. 24.

Senior pitcher Claire Fon relieved Hibbs in the sixth and let up the one unearned run in four innings with three strikeouts to improve to 15-2 on the season.

Head Coach Carla Campagna and the Panthers will now move to the winner's bracket and face either No. 4 seed Bentley University or No. 5 seed Caldwell University on Friday morning (May 12) at 10 a.m. at Janet L. Ficke Field.