BOX SCORE MANCHESTER, N.H. - Freshman Nicole King (Front Royal, Va./Warren County) and senior Micah Stonesifer (Archer City, Texas/Archer City / Vernon College) combined for a five-hitter as the University of New Haven softball team defeated Southern New Hampshire University 2-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship semifinals Friday night. Jess Spivey (Holland, Pa./Council Rock) and Lindsey Couturier (Dighton, Mass./Dighton Rehoboth Regional) both hit solo home runs in the top of the second and fifth innings, respectively, to lead the offense.

Seeded No. 2 in the Southwest Division, New Haven advances to the NE-10 Championship game Saturday at 1 p.m. and will take on Southwest Division No. 1 Adelphi at Penmen Field on the campus of SNHU.

New Haven improved to 36-12 with the win, while the Penmen dropped to 29-15. 

The Chargers and Penmen both went scoreless in the first, in part to three-straight strikeouts to open the game for King. The NE-10 All-Rookie selection fanned the first and then got two straight looking. 

Spivey opened the top of the second inning for UNH and hit a ball hard in the air toward the left field foul pole. After hitting halfway up the pole, the sophomore gave New Haven an early one run lead. Both teams left one runner on base in the third inning, while the entire fourth inning went hitless. However, SNHU put two runners on base in the bottom of the fourth before the third out was forced with a grounder to second base.

New Haven opened the fifth with back-to-back outs, but then loaded the bases with a hit by pitch, single and walk. A fly out to left field ended the Chargers chance of adding to their lead. In the bottom of the fifth, a controversial call on a ball hit hard down the right field line went the Chargers' way and UNH escaped the fifth with two SNHU runners still on base. 

Couturier opened the top of the sixth with another solo home run for New Haven. Her bomb went over the fence in left field and gave New Haven a 2-0 lead. The Penmen answered in the bottom of the sixth. The rally included included three hits, four base runners and one run scored to narrow the Chargers' lead back to one.

After a thrilling five inning start for King, Stonesifer stepped in and completed the final two innings on the rubber for New Haven. She shut the door in the sixth and seventh innings and earned second save of the season. 

New Haven's half of the seventh, included two base runners, both of which were left on base before SNHU stepped to the plate for the final half-inning. Stonesifer forced a ground out, fanned one batter, walked the third and forced the final out on a fielder's choice as New Haven sealed its trip to the NE-10 Championship.

King improved to 12-5 on the season and totaled four strikeouts, one run and four hits. Stonesifer struck out three in the final two innings and allowed just one hit.

Lucy Francisco (Lawrence, Mass./Lawrence ), Brooke Fisher (Erial, N.J./Camden Catholic) and Brandy Dianno (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) joined Spivey and Couturier as the only other Chargers to record hits in the win. 

SNHU's Ali Maloof, the NE-10 Pitcher of the Year, suffered the loss, but threw the complete game allowing two runs and striking out four UNH batters.

This season marks New Haven's first trip to the NE-10 Championship game since joining the NE-10 in 2009.