MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College softball team split a Northeast-10 doubleheader against Adelphi by winning game two, 6-2, after losing game one, 7-0, on Saturday at South Athletic Fields.
Adelphi 7, Saint Anselm 0 | Box
Adelphi (19-11, 9-1 NE-10) hit three home runs and got a combined two-hitter from Lindsay Mapes and Jessica Vadala to blank Saint Anselm (8-14, 4-6 NE-10) in the opener.
Mapes worked the first 6.1 innings and held the Hawks to two hits before giving way to Vadala for the final two outs. Mapes walked six batters and struck out four to improve to 9-6 on the season.
Sam Hennequin matched Mapes through the first four innings, not allowing a hit. However, the Panthers tallied four hits in a five-run fifth and did all their damage with two outs. After Krista King and Nicoletta Cuccio knocked in runs, Nicole Camera delivered a three-run home run to right to break the game open.
The Hawks threatened in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one out but Mapes escaped with a pair of strikeouts. Brenna Martini and Megan Lewis added solo home runs in the seventh for Adelphi.
Amanda Bickford and Pattie Turner each had one hit for Saint Anselm. Seven Adelphi batters combined for the team's nine hits and five Panthers drove in runs.
Saint Anselm 6, Adelphi 2 | Box
Arika Brochu scattered six hits in a complete game and Michaela Criscione hit her first home run of the season as the Hawks handed the Panthers their first NE-10 loss in game two.
Brochu held Adelphi to single runs in the first and fifth innings and picked up her team-best fifth win of the season by going the distance for the fifth time.
The Panthers scored first, plating a run in the top of the first on a RBI single by Camera, but the Hawks came right back by taking advantage of a hit batter and a walk to score a run on a groundout by Karoline Leavitt.
Saint Anselm went ahead in the bottom of the second, scoring on a two-run single off the bat of Bickford to left-center field. The hit came after the first three batters of the inning reached to load the bases.
The Hawks put another run on the board in the fourth when Bickford came around to score on a single by Turner. The Panthers got the run back in the top of the fifth but Criscione's two-run blast capped the scoring in the bottom of the frame.
Eight of Saint Anselm's nine starters had at least one hit in the win. Bickford led the way by going 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Criscione reached base all three times by walking twice in addition to her long ball.
King was the lone Adelphi players to have multiple hits in game two, going 2-for-3 with two runs and a walk.
Next up for Saint Anselm is a 3 p.m. game at Saint Michael's on Tuesday, April 5 after the team's doubleheader against Pace on Sunday was postponed due to weather.
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