MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball team won its second Northeast-10 Conference Championship title, downing Adelphi twice on Friday in the best-of-three series at the South Athletic Fields.

Saint Anselm, the 18th-ranked program in NCAA Division II according to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), improves to 29-4 overall on the season. The Hawks have won 13 consecutive games and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Championship. Saint Anselm, ranked second in the most recent NCAA Division II East Region rankings, will find out their opponent and seeding via the NCAA Division II Championship selection show slated for Sunday, May 16 at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com.

Adelphi, the six-time Southwest Division Champions, drop to 27-8 and will likely qualify for the upcoming NCAA tournament by virtue of their No. 3 position in the most recent regional rankings.

After 16 appearances in the NE10 Tournament in program history, the Hawks are now two-time winners of the team trophy, claiming a 7-3 victory in game one then clinching the title with a close 2-1 triumph in game two.

Junior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio), who earned a spot on the NE10 All-Tournament Team, gave the Hawks a tremendous spark in the first inning of game two, hitting a clutch two-run home run to help the Hawks keep the offense going and never let the advantage go, earning the win in game one. Klaiber also tied her 2020 home run mark with four after Friday's two home-run performance.

Tied 1-1 heading into the seventh of game two, a defensive miscue by Adelphi allowed pinch-runner sophomore Jess Persechino (Torrington, Conn.) to score from second base for the game-winning run. The game was also highlighted by a dominant pitching performance from the NE10 All-Tournament Most Valuable Player, sophomore McKenna Smith (Old Town, Maine), who only allowed three hits and one run, striking out four batters in the process.

Senior Shannon Colson (Rochester, N.H.) started off the second game with her 200th career hit - only one other Hawks student-athlete has achieved the feat, current assistant coach Amanda Bickford '18 who owns the program's lead with 237. Colson is also four at-bats away from breaking the all-time record, held by Bickford with 609.

GAME ONE: No. 18 Saint Anselm 7, Adelphi 3 (Box Score)

The opening contest featured four total home runs with two each coming from Adelphi and Saint Anselm. The Panthers got started with their first at-bat of the game as Emily Whitman sent a home run over the center field wall. In the bottom half of the inning, following a sophomore Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.) single, Klaiber was able to get hold of a pitch and clobber a home run over the left field wall, putting the Hawks up 2-1.

The Hawks generated a five-hit, five-run second inning off a two-run single and a three-run home run. Early in the inning, with runners on second and third, Colson single up the middle, scoring both runs to increase the team's advantage to 4-1. The Hawks bats kept going as senior Lauren Washburn (Carmichael, Calif.) recorded her fourth home run of the season, extending the Hawks lead to 7-1.

In her second at-bat of the day, Whitman narrowed the deficit to a five-run game off a home run to left field in the third. Adelphi would only be able to get one more run past senior Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.) and the Hawks defense in the remainder of the contest, as Adephi drew a walk with bases loaded in the fourth. The score would remain that way for the rest of the game as Perry secured her 17th win of the season without a defeat, logging three straight strikeouts in the seventh.

Colson, Fitzpatrick, and junior Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.) each had two hits in game one.

In the circle, Perry surrendered eight hits, three runs, while also fanning eight batters, pushing her season total to 190 strikeouts. She is also one complete game away from tying the program's leader, Lori Cillo '94, with 76 in a single career.

GAME TWO: No. 18 Saint Anselm 2, Adelphi 1 (Box Score)

There was only one hit in the first three innings as game two proved to be a defensive battle compared to the offensive game the Hawks had in game one. Smith held a no-hitter up until the bottom of the fourth when Faith Camilleri singled to right field.

In the meantime, Klaiber stroked her second home run of the day with a bomb to almost the same spot as game one's hit, securing the Hawks a 1-0 lead. With the contest heading into the final two innings, Camilleri tied the game up in the sixth inning after an RBI double was hit over the center fielders' head, scoring Whitman from second.

The Hawks pushed across the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. Following a Cain walk to lead off the inning, senior Erin Thompson (Newton, N.H.) laid down a sacrifice bunt, advancing pinch runner Persechino to second. Fitzpatrick hit a hard line drive toward the Adelphi's shortstop, who misplayed the ball and allowed Persechino to slide in safe at home. That was the eventual game-winning run for the Hawks.

Four Hawks student-athletes recorded hits in the game with Klaiber earning the lone run batted in of the contest.

2021 Northeast-10 Conference Softball All-Championship Team
Franklin Pierce – Cyrena Zemaitis
New Haven – Ava Fitzmaurice
Adelphi – Emily Whitman
Adelphi - Claire Fon
Saint Anselm – Morgan Perry
Saint Anselm – Bre Klaiber
Saint Anselm – McKenna Smith (MVP)