Garden City, N.Y. - With pressure on early, the Adelphi University softball team used two solo home runs to kick start its offense late en route to a 6-1 victory over Molloy on day two of the Division II East II Regional on Friday.
The Lions (31-23) wasted no time putting a run on the board, plating Stephanie Conrade on an Alex Burns triple in the bottom half of the first.
Adelphi left runners on base in every inning but the fourth, as Brianna Mascias held the Cats to three hits through five frames.
With one out in the top half of the sixth,
Faith Camilleri launched a full count shot well over the left field fence, knotting the score at one apiece.
"I had nothing but anxiety throughout the entire game, but I have - like I said yesterday - so much faith in Faith," said
Carla Campagna in the postgame presser. "I know that we weren't sharp to begin with, not getting our bunts down but then we eventually put it together and once we started, it turned into an explosion of the offense."
Camilleri's solo round-tripper, her fourth of the season was all the Panthers needed to get back on track.
Molloy's bottom of the sixth would have had any other defenses shaking - but not Adelphi's. With one out and runners at the corners,
Lindsey Hibbs stepped up and struck out the last two batters of the inning to turn the page unscathed.
"This team is never out of the the game and when Lindsey is pitching, we are ALWAYS in the game," exclaimed Camilleri. "She grinds and with her on the mound, I know anything is possible."
"I've just been in that position alot and I think no matter what happens, my team is going to be behind me," said Hibbs. "The mindset wasn't necessarily that I have to strike these people out, but it was I have to spin the ball as much as I can and hopefully my spin will beat their swing. I know once the ball leaves my hand that I have no control over it, but that's why there are eight people behind me."
Following those two crucial Ks - which put Hibbs at 982 career strikeouts - the Adelphi bats came alive. Much like in the sixth, with one out,
Brianna Fischer took the chance to tag one to left center, to put the Cats ahead for good. Three straight singles loaded the bases for the two-seed, and a botched play on a
Jordyn Pasqueralli swing plated two more runs.
It was 6-1 before long as Adelphi put together a five-run, five-hit inning to all but seal the deal.
Three more strikeouts highlighted the bottom of the seventh for Hibbs which kept the Panthers in the winners bracket.
Adelphi will take on the winner of #3 Pace/#6 Molloy - a second chance for the Setters after losing to the Lions 7-0 on day one - on Saturday. Game time is set for 12:00 p.m. with an if necessary game seven scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
