Box Score
Box Score

No. 4 Le Moyne College broke a 3-3 deadlock in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat No. 5 UMass Lowell, 5-3, Wednesday afternoon in the Northeast-10 Conference Softball Tournament Quarterfinal.

With the loss, UMass Lowell slipped to 33-16 and awaits NCAA Tournament bids to be announced on Monday (Time to be announced). UMass Lowell is currently No. 4 in the latest NCAA East Region Poll.

The win was the fourth straight and 12^th in the last 13 games for Le Moyne, as it improved to 27-24 and meets No. 1 Southern Connecticut Friday at 10:00. In Wednesday's other quarterfinal, No. 3 Assumption defeated No. 6 Southern New Hampshire, 3-2.

On Tuesday, No. 1 Southern Connecticut defeated No. 8 Stonehill 4-3 (10 innings) while No. 7 New Haven bested No. 2 Adelphi, 5-4.

Le Moyne limited UMass Lowell to just three hits opposed to its 10. Sophomore pitcher Sarah Harrison earned the win to improve to 25-15 overall as she surrendered three walks and three earned runs in addition to three hits while striking out seven.

Freshman Courtney Lanfranchi (Burlington, Mass.) took the loss to slip to 14-8. Lanfranchi replaced senior pitcher Elyssa Boris (Gardner, Mass.) after four innings and allowed five hits, three earned runs and no walks.

Boris scattered five hits, one earned run and three walks. She also batted 1 for 3 with an RBI, as did sophomore Ali Ferraro (Kingston, N.Y.).

“This is a tough loss for us,” said head coach Sean Cotter. “Le Moyne hit, pitched and defended better than we did. Hopefully we have done enough to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.”

UMass Lowell trailed 2-1 entering the top of the fifth inning, but freshman RF Ariana Darcy (Walkill, N.Y.) hit a sacrifice fly to score freshman LF Ally Greene (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Boris followed with an RBI single to score senior SS Meagan Guy (Berlin, Conn.) to give the River Hawks a 3-2 lead.

Le Moyne, however, leveled matters in the bottom half of the inning when senior C Morgan Edmondson doubled to score senior 3B Kelcie Cashel.

The Dolphins struck again in the sixth when Cashel singled to score senior 1B Leah Ford and Harrison, who had each singled.

Greene reached on an error to open the seventh inning and junior 2B Krista MacKenzie (Ipswich, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to give UMass Lowell two on and one out, but Darcy hit into a fielder's choice and Boris flied out to right field to end the game.

Le Moyne took advantage of a pair of miscues in the first inning to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Cashel scored the first on a wild pitch while Shea reached home on a throwing error. UMass Lowell pulled a run back in the fourth when Ferraro doubled to right field to score senior C Lindsi Panarelli (Shrewsbury, Mass.).