WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The top-seeded Southern New Hampshire University softball team defeated Southwest Division No. 2 Adelphi by a score of 8-0 in a six inning Northeast-10 Conference Championship semi-final game. The Penmen improve to 28-13, while the Panthers are now 27-18, and await a probable NCAA bid.

The win marks the first conference post-season win in softball history, and it will also mark the first time a SNHU softball team has made it to the conference championship.

The Penmen opened up an early lead in the first inning, scoring three runs, and built on the lead in the third scoring four more. A single run in the sixth was all the team needed to end the game at 8-0 en route to the victory.

Mo Hannan (Scarborough, Maine) led-off the bottom of the first inning with a walk to get on base and advanced to third after Ali Maloof (Norwood, Mass.) reached on a fielder's choice, and Adelphi committed a throwing error. With two on and no outs, Katie Caruso (Newton, Mass.) successfully laid down a bunt to the pitcher to score Hannan and put Maloof on third. Lindsey Bolduc (Londonderry, N.H.) then singled through the right side to score Maloof for the second run of the inning. Cara Daly (Plainville, Mass.) drove in the last run of the inning with a deep sacrifice fly to right field, allowing Caruso to cross home plate and to take a 3-0 lead out of the first inning.

The Panthers opened up the top of the second inning with a double from Barbato. She was advanced to third on an O'Reilly single to left center. Adelphi had one out, and one in scoring position with an opportunity to cut the Penmen lead, but Maloof was able to strikeout the next batter, and force a pop out, and the Panthers left two on base.

The following inning brought more runs for the Penmen, as they scored four more in the bottom of the third. Caruso led-off the inning with a single to left field, and Bolduc followed with her sixth homerun of the season to score two more runs and boost the lead to 5-0. Tesia Stanasek (Blackstone, Mass.) plated two more runs with a single up the middle to give SNHU a 7-0 lead to close out the third inning.

Southern New Hampshire held Adelphi off of the board and hitless for the next three innings, until the top of the sixth when the Panthers gave themselves another opportunity to score.

After Maloof struck out Wink, Andrews followed with a single through the left side to get on base for the Panthers. Catalano moved Andrews to second with an infield single to third to put two on base, but Maloof put away the next batter to get out of the inning, and leave two on for Adelphi.

In the bottom of the sixth, SNHU scored one run to take the game. With two outs, Caruso doubled to right center for her third hit of the game. Bolduc followed with a walk to put two on, and pinch-hitter Jessica Torsiello (Morris Plains, N.J.) singled up the middle to plate the game-winning run, as Caruso scored.

Maloof went six innings in the circle for the Penmen, totaling five strikeouts, and allowing no runs and four hits. Andrews got the loss in the circle for Adelphi pitching 2.1 innings and giving up five hits and six runs.

The Penmen will play tomorrow, May 4 in the Northeast-10 Championship game against the winner of Southwest Division No. 1 New Haven and Northeast Division No. 2 Saint Anselm. The game will be at 11:00 a.m. at the University of New Haven in West Haven, Connecticut.

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