Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Despite a strong pitching performance from freshman Lauren Ramirez (Dracut, Mass.) in the front-end of a doubleheader against Bethune-Cookman, the UMass Lowell softball team would fall in both games in Daytona Beach, Fla. The River Hawks fell in the first game 2-1 and dropped the second game 3-0.

Ramirez struckout six over 4 and 2/3 innings while surrendering a lone run on a single hit. The River Hawks got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning when sophomore Brianna Martin (Methuen, Mass.) came home on a fielders choice off the bat of freshman Alisha Welch (Langley, British Columbia).

"Our pitching was pretty good today and our defense was clearly better than it was yesterday, and that needs to be our bread and butter for us to be successful," said Head Coach Sean Cotter.

The Wildcats responded right back in the bottom of the inning before walking off in the seventh when BCU freshman Sabrina Anquiano hit a single with the bases loaded off River Hawks freshman Erica Armenti (Shrewsbury, Mass.). The game-winning run was unearned to Armenti as the runner reached on a throwing error to leadoff the inning.

In the back-end of the series, the Wildcats scored in the first inning and wouldn't look back, blanking the River Hawks 3-0. The River Hawks had five players reach base on singles and had their best scoring opportunity in the second inning but couldn't push home a run as Welch grounded out to the pitcher with runners on first and second.

"We played five games in two days and the girls showed a lot of resolve in terms of our energy and battling in todays games," Cotter said. "We lost some games against some postseason tested teams but it was a really competitive day."

The losses drop the River Hawks record to 1-8, but they will look to bounce back tomorrow in a doubleheader against a 1-3 Siena team at 10 A.M. and Creighton (4-9) at 12 P.M.

"We've played some good competition early and we've more than held our own and now its just a matter of finding a way to win ballgames, "Cotter said. "I know that will come over the next three quarters of our season, and for us its still fairly early in the year and we'll continue to get better. Thats the nature of our sport and the nature of our program, that we want to be playing our best ball in the middle to the end of the year and that's certainly where we are."