Garden City, N.Y. - Zee Zee Shreter's RBI single capped a two-run rally to give Adelphi University a hard-fought 3-2 win over St. Thomas Aquinas College today in first-round softball action of the NCAA Division II East Regional at Janet L. Ficke Field.
In a matchup of two conference champions, Adelphi needed to erase deficits in the seventh and ninth innings to notch the exciting win. The victory vaulted top-seeded Adelphi (44-6) into tomorrow's second-round at 10 a.m. against fourth-seeded Bentley University (29-14-1), which knocked off fifth-seeded Caldwell University (35-18), 2-0, in today's other first-round contest of the four-team, double-elimination tourney. The Spartans (31-17) will meet Caldwell at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow and will play again at 3 p.m., if they win. Adelphi, currently ranked 12th nationally, has won 23 straight games.
For the first six innings, STAC's Carissa Della Vecchia was the game's most impactful player. She hit a solo home run over the right field fence to give STAC a 1-0 lead and out-pitched Adelphi's All-American candidate Lindsey Hibbs, who left the game in the sixth inning. However, Adelphi tied the score with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning when Courtney Murphy scored from second base on an infield error.
