April 3, 2011

Box Score Game 1 | Box Score Game 2

Photo Gallery

Senior P Rachel Schafler (Floral Park, N.Y.) had a stellar, two-hit outing as she pitched 6.0 innings in the River Hawks' late game this afternoon against Merrimack at River View Field. UMass Lowell split the conference doubleheader with the Warriors, first falling 12-1 in five innings before picking up the 1-0 win in game two.

UMass Lowell now stands at 15-11 on the year with a 1-3 mark in NE-10 action, while Merrimack owns a 6-9 clip with an even 1-1 record in conference play.

"Once again, [Rachel Schafler] was the kid that talked to our group in between games and for about the third time this year, she went out there and backed that up in the second game," said Head Coach Sean Cotter. "She took a shutout to the seventh inning and I'm just so proud of her effort and she really put her teammates on her back this afternoon."

In the first game, the River Hawks got off to a rocky start as each of Merrimack's first five batters rounded the bases before the inning was up. Merrimack capitalized with five runs in the first frame before pitcher Elyssa Boris (Gardner, Mass.) struck out a pair and a base-running miscue by the Warriors ended the inning.

Krista MacKenzie (Ipswich, Mass.) started the bottom of the first stanza with a triple and scored on a wild pitch to put the River Hawks on the board and by the end of the first, it was 5-1 in Merrimack's favor, but it proved to be the lone run UMass Lowell would score in the game.

UMass Lowell loaded the bases in the bottom of the second before the Warriors could record a single out, but Warrior pitcher Kelli Jo Deardorff got her squad out of the jam, preserving a 6-1 Merrimack lead.

The Warriors got themselves into a similar situation in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with no outs in the inning, but the River Hawks were unable to produce the same outcome, as Merrimack finished the inning with six runs on as many hits. UMass Lowell was unable to recover from the deficit before the game wrapped up in five innings, falling to Merrimack 12-1.

Boris pitched the complete game for the River Hawks, allowing 12 runs on 12 hits through 5.0 innings. She struck out three and walked as many. Deardorff picked up her fifth win of the year in the complete game effort. She allowed four hits and one run with four strikeouts and three walks.

MacKenzie and Boris picked up two hits apiece, accounting for all the River Hawk offense in the game.

Schafler started the second game of the afternoon and when it looked like it might be an equally difficult game, she got the River Hawks out of a bases loaded jam in the first. She went on to throw three hitless innings before Merrimack got its first hit of the game in the top of the fourth.

The senior pitcher was a rock for the River Hawks, earning her fifth win of the year by allowing no runs and two hits through six innings.

UMass Lowell got on the board in the bottom of the third as Katie Mazure (Burlington, Mass.) scored Heather Ross (Waltham, Mass.). Despite collecting two hits, the one run was all the River Hawks could gather by inning's end. By game's end, that wound up being all the offense the team needed, earning the 1-0 victory, their 15th win of the year.

Boris came in to earn her first save of the year. The junior stayed calm despite inheriting the tying run on second base and she helped her team to the close win, its first in conference play.

Senior 1B Ross had a game-high two hits and scored the lone River Hawk run of the game.

The River Hawks are scheduled to host Saint Anselm College for another NE-10 doubleheader beginning tomorrow at 3 p.m. on River View Field.