MANCHESTER, N.H. — The second-seeded Southern New Hampshire University softball team captured the NCAA East II Regional title on Sunday with a pair of extra inning victories over sixth-seeded LIU Post, 2-1 in 10 innings and 3-2 in nine innings. The Penmen, who improved to 35-7, advance to their first-ever NCAA East Super Regional next weekend, while the Pioneers close out their season with a record of 32-17-1. 

Southern New Hampshire will face Adelphi University in the upcoming Super Regional, a three-game series likely to be held at Penmen Field, after the Panthers defeated Caldwell College in the East I Regional by a final score of 9-4. The Penmen defeated Adelphi in their lone meeting of the season, a 6-0 decision in the Northeast-10 Conference title game on May 2. The winner of the Super Regional will advance to the College World Series.

Sunday marked the fifth time Southern New Hampshire and LIU Post have met in NCAA East Regional action the past two seasons. All-five games have been decided by one run and four of them have gone to extra innings. The Pioneers took a pair of games in the 2014 East Regional in extra frames and a 1-0 decision on Saturday before the Penmen claimed both contests on Sunday.

Senior Ali Maloof (Norwood, Mass.) earned both victories in the circle for Southern New Hampshire on Sunday, as she hurled a 10-inning complete game in the opener before providing four innings of shutout relief in the winner-take-all final. Maloof, who upped her record to 24-2, struck out 10 and scattered seven hits in game one before striking out four in game two. In total she thew 224 pitches, 162 of which went for strikes.

After the two teams were deadlocked at two through the first eight and a half innings of the second game, the Penmen were able to plate the winning run in the home half of the ninth. Sophomore Jessica Torsiello (Morris Plains, N.J.) led off the frame with a double off the wall in right centerfield. Freshman Brittany Perdigao (Stoughton, Mass.) stepped in next and dropped a bunt in front of home plate that was fielded by the LIU Post pitcher, but the ensuing throw skipped past the first base bag and allowed Torsiello to race home with the winning run.

Southern New Hampshire jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when junior Mo Hannan (Scarborough, Maine) led off with a solo shot to left.

Sophomore Nicole Gubellini (Salem, N.H.) started game two for the Penmen, and held the Pioneers off the scoreboard until the top half of the fifth. After the first two batters of the inning reached, Catherine Havens executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one away. Samantha Miller followed with an RBI single to left to tie the score, and after junior Rebecca Sherwood (Braintree, Mass.) relieved Gubellini, Aly Dzierzynski pushed LIU Post in front with an infield single. Sherwood settled in from there and retired the final two hitters on a fly out and a pop out to extinguish the rally.

Southern New Hampshire answered right back in the bottom of the frame to knot the score at two apiece. Perdigao reached on an error to lead off the inning and advanced to second on the throw. Two batters later, Maloof delivered a single that scored Perdigao and brought the Penmen even.

After a scoreless sixth, the Pioneers nearly took the lead in the top of the seventh. Havens started things off with a single before Miller moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt. Two batters later Paige Swantek singled to left, but senior Holly Eicher (Stoneham, Mass.) gathered the ball and fired a perfect strike to the plate to cut down the potential go-ahead run and keep the game at 2-2.

In the opener, the Penmen staked themselves to a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth when freshman Katie Horiuchi (Livingston, N.J.) worked a bases loaded walk to push across the game's first run.

Maloof made the lead stand until the bottom of the seventh, when down to their last out, the Pioneers evened the scored at one apiece. After Maloof struck out the first hitter of the inning, Jaclyn Hahn doubled to left center. Two batters later, Miller delivered a two-out single to right to drive in Hahn and tie the game.

Neither team was able to score in the eighth or ninth innings, but in the top of the 10th, junior Lindsey Bolduc (Londonderry, N.H.) provided some late inning heroics. With one out in the inning, Bolduc belted a 2-2 offering over the wall in left to give Southern New Hampshire a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Maloof retired the side in order and set up the winner-take-all second game.