MANCHESTER, N.H. – In the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both teams, the Saint Anselm College softball team was tripped up by Adelphi University in back-to-back one-run contests played at the South Athletic Fields.
Saint Anselm, the two-time NE10 postseason champions, fell by a 1-0 margin in the opener before dropping a 2-1 decision in game two, falling to 7-10 overall and to 0-2 in NE10 play on the year. Adelphi snapped a five-game winless streak to the Hawks, moving to 15-7 (2-0 NE10) at day's end.
The Hawks offense generated 14 hits on the day and limited Adelphi to just eight, but the Hawks left 18 total runners on base across the two games and struck out 14 times. Saint Anselm logged its lone run of the afternoon on a ball four wild pitch in game two.
In the circle, the tandem of sophomore Haile Hicks (Jefferson, N.H.) and freshman Sophia DiPippo (Cranston, R.I.) performed admirably, limiting Adelphi to just three combined earned runs across 14 innings. Both drew the loss, with Hicks dropping to 7-2 on the year.
Freshman Ava Caputo (Waterford, N.Y.) led the way with four hits in seven at-bats for the Hawks, stealing a base on the afternoon. Three others had two hits for Saint Anselm in defeat.
Saint Anselm hosts Pace on Sunday, Mar. 27 in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
GAME ONE – Adelphi 1, Saint Anselm 0
Both teams were held scoreless until the top of the seventh inning. After an eight-pitch at bat that was won by Hicks for the first out of the inning, Adelphi shortstop Jesse Farhat lined a deep solo home run to left field that stood up as the game-winning score.
The Hawks made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh as Kylee Royer (Blackshear, Ga.) drew a six-pitch walk. With one out in the inning, the next two batters, Brianna Belisle (South Burlington, Vt.) and Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.), both walked and saw a combined 19 pitches in the process to load the bases.
Back-to-back fly balls were generated by Lindsey Hibbs, the Adelphi reliever, as the Panthers came away with the victory in game one. Hicks finished with just three hits allowed and four strikeouts while Claire Fon partnered with Hibbs to strike out seven batters.
GAME TWO – Adelphi 2, Saint Anselm 1
Adelphi's Ziara Shreter led off the top of the third with an infield single and later advanced to third base on a groundout. Arsenault made a diving catch in right field to log the second out of the stanza, but Shreter came home from third to score the game's first run for the visitors.
Belisle returned the favor in the bottom of the inning, singling back to the pitcher to open the proceedings. Following hits by Caputo and senior Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.), Klaiber took ball four, which was fired to the backstop – Belisle came sprinting home from third base on the play, tying the game at one.
Adelphi pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth as a lead-off single came around to score on another hit by Shreter, the team's leading hitter as a freshman. DiPippo was able to get out of further trouble, leaving two runners stranded on base.
Saint Anselm had multiple chances to tie the game in the sixth and seventh innings, leaving a total of four runners on base in each of those frames. The Hawks had two runners on in the bottom of the seventh with one out, but back-to-back pop-ups to the Adelphi defensive replacement at second base ended the game.
DiPippo drew the loss, despite conceding just five hits and two earned runs across seven innings. Hibbs pitched a complete game with just one run allowed and seven strikeouts – the Hawks did rack up nine hits but could not produce any runs with the bat.
