After an impressive quarter final victory, Thursday over Merrimack, New Haven softball fell to, St. Anselm 5-1 in the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 (NE-10) conference championship.

The NE-10 Conference championship tournament took place at St. Anselm College, with the Hawks having earned the top seed in the Northwest division. The conference alternates which division host the tournament, with this season being the Northeast’s host year.

The Chargers entered the tournament as the number two seed in the Southwest division, giving them a bye to the quarterfinal round, where they met the number three seed from the Northeast division Merrimack.

The Chargers earned the victory over the Warriors 4-3 on a walk-off solo home run by senior Vanessa Strohm, who swung at the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the seventh and set up a meeting between New Haven and St. Anselm in the semifinals.

In that semifinal game, a pair of Charger errors allowed the Hawks to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

The Chargers answered back with a run in the top of the third on a single by freshman Mya Case that allowed junior Cat Vaughn to score.

That would be the only run on the day for New Haven, as St. Anselm’s Jordan O’Connor hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to cap off a 5-1 victory for the hosts. The Hawks would go on to a 10-inning victory over Adelphi Friday 4-3 to win their first NE-10 championship in program history.

As for the Chargers, the team received the seventh seed in the upcoming NCAA Division II East Region Championship. New Haven will open against second-seeded LIU Post in a double elimination four-team regional hosted by Wilmington.