Christina Gelardi hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning for the University of New Haven softball team, but the Chargers’ rally attempt fell short in a 4-3 loss to Adelphi in the championship game of the Northeast-10 Conference tournament Saturday at Manchester, N.H.
The Chargers trailed 4-0 after one inning.

Christina Gelardi

Lucy Francisco hit a run-scoring single in the sixth inning to put New Haven on the board.
Brandy Dianno, Jess Spivey and Keri Tricinelli also had hits for the Chargers (36-13), who were playing in their first NE-10 tournament championship final.
New Haven, recently ranked No. 4 in the NCAA Division II East Region Rankings, now waits for the selection show, which will air tonight at NCAA.com. The Chargers, likely to receive an at-large bid, are hoping to advance to their fifth NCAA tournament in the last six years.
 Gelardi was named the Northeast-10 Conference Softball Player of the Year, as announced by the league office Thursday. The senior is joined by six others who were named to All-NE-10 teams.
Second baseman Lucy Francisco and pitcher Micah Stonesifer both were second-team honorees while Jess Spivey and Keri Tricinelli were named to the third team. Freshmen Nicole King and Jen Palase were both named to the all-rookie team.
The nation’s leader in on-base percentage, Gelardi currently boasts some of the best numbers in all of collegiate softball. The Derby native also ranks sixth in runs per game, 11th in batting average and 15th in walks in all of Division II.
Francisco, who has started 46 games, boasts a .338 batting average with the team’s second-most RBIs (37). She also has scored 32 runs and has 20 extra-base hits through the end of the regular season.
Stonesifer leads the team with a 15-6 record and a 1.41 earned run average in the circle. She’s thrown 14 complete games, including four shutouts. This is the second year-end conference honor for the Archer City, Texas, native in her two seasons at UNH.
At first base, Spivey has anchored the Chargers with a .322 batting average in 38 starts. She drove in 29 runs with 12 extra-base hits. The sophomore has also scored 21 runs and has 245 putouts with a .996 fielding percentage.
Tricinelli, the Chargers’ DH, is hitting .333 this season with 33 RBIs. She has 45 hits and 16 runs.
Another pitching weapon, King has posted an 11-5 record with a 2.61 ERA in her freshman season. She’s fanned a team-high 119 batters while holding opponents to a .203 average.
Palase started 40 games in her rookie campaign and is currently third on the team with a .358 batting average. The Staten Island native has also driven in 17 runs and scored another 20 this season.
New Haven begins its postseason run Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Manchester, N.H., in the second round of the NE-10 championship tournament against Stonehill. The winning team will advance to the semifinals on Friday night against host Southern New Hampshire at 7 p.m.