Box Score

Southern New Hampshire twice battled back from deficits to turn back UMass Lowell, 4-3 and 7-4, Saturday night to capture the Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division regular season championship at Penmen Field.

With the losses, UMass Lowell slipped to 26-20-1 overall (15-5-1 in the NE-10 Northeast Division) and await NE-10 Tournament pairings to be announced on Sunday.

Southern New Hampshire improved to 29-14 overall and 16-5 in the NE-10 Northeast Division and will host the NE-10 Tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Penmen Field.

UMass Lowell had scored a 1-0 triumph over the Penmen Friday night and only needed to win one of the games on Saturday, but, despite holding leads in both games, were twice turned back by the Penmen.

UMass Lowell suffered a blow early Saturday when freshman pitcher Marielle Handley (Durham, Conn.), who has a 20-12 record this season, was ruled out due to an injury. She is expected to be ready for the NE-10 Tournament.
 
Sophomore DH Abby Jamieson (Billerica, Mass.) led UMass Lowell on the day, hitting 3 for 5 with two home runs, four RBI, four runs and two walks. Senior 1B Brianna Mahoney (Billerica Mass.) went 3 for 6 with one RBI.

In the opener, UMass Lowell trailed 2-0 entering the seventh inning, but pulled a run back behind a two-out RBI double by sophomore CF Ariana Darcy (Walkill, N.Y.), which scored sophomore LF Ally Greene (Tewksbury, Mass.).

Sophomore DH Abby Jamieson (Billerica, Mass.) then blasted a two-run shot to give the River Hawks a 3-2 edge heading into the bottom of the seventh.

The lead was short-lived, however, as senior SS Kate Stanley led off with a solo home run to knot the score. Senior 2B Kelsey Cheney then drew a walk and advanced to second when senior LF Cristy Jenkins reached on a fielder's choice.

Junior 1B Cara Daly's sacrifice bunt advanced Jenkins and Cheney to second and third, and senior Nicole Newell then reached on an error to score Cheney for the win.

Senior 2B Krista MacKenzie (Ipswich, Mass.) and Mahoney each batted 2 for 3 to lead UMass Lowell. Freshman Hailey Terrien (Rochdale, Mass.) took the loss as she scattered three hits, one earned run and a walk over the final three innings to slip to 1-2.

Sophomore P Ali Maloof hit 2 for 4 for SNHU, and also improved to 16-6, giving up seven hits, three earned runs and three walks while striking out 11.
 
In the nightcap, SNHU scored two runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth to battle back from a 2-1 deficit.

Daly cracked a two-run shot in the third and, after an RBI double by Mahoney in the top of the fourth to knot the score 3-3, the Penmen erupted for four in the fourth, led by a two-run home run by Stanley as well as an RBI single by sophomore CF Holly Eicher.

In the fifth inning, UMass Lowell had runners on second and third with two out, but were unable to capitalize. The River Hawks, however, pulled a run back in the sixth when Jamieson scored on a groundout by sophomore C Melissa King (Stamford, Conn.), but could get no closer.

Sophomore P Courtney Lanfranchi (Burlington, Mass.) took the loss to slip to 4-6. Lanfranchi gave up nine hits, five earned runs and a walk over 3.1 innings.

Junior Dolores Mattice earned the win as she scattered five hits, three earned runs and three walks while striking out five to improve to 11-5.