Sophomore
Alyssa Zinkiewicz's (Massapequa, N.Y.) sacrifice fly in the fourth was all UMass Lowell ace
Marielle Handley (Durham, Ct.) needed, shutting out Dartmouth in a 1-0 victory at River View Field on Tuesday.
A 20-game winner a year ago, Handley picked up her fifth win of the season and etched her name in the record books as the first River Hawk to win a shutout as a Division I program. Handley gave up four hits while striking out three in a complete game performance that ended the River Hawks six-game slide.
"I hit my spots, definitely used the changeup which was effective, challenged them, limited my walks and went right at the batters," said Handley.
UMass Lowell improves to 9-29 overall and remains 1-10 in the America East, while the Big Green drop their second straight and fall to 26-15 overall and 15-1 in the Ivy League.
Dartmouth lefty Ashley Sissel dueled with Handley, allowing four hits and striking out five over five innings, the loss dropped Sissel's record to 1-4 on the season.
The River Hawks winning run came in the fourth inning when
Ally Greene (Tewksbury, Mass.) reached on an error by Dartmouth's second baseman to lead off the inning. Greene stole second and advanced to third on a single by
Emily O'Brien (Salem, N.H.) before coming in on Zinkiewicz's sacrifice fly.
One-run games have been commonplace for the River Hawks this season, but with todays win the team now holds a 5-6 record in such games.
A heartbreaking 7-5 walk-off loss at UMBC on Friday remained on the mind of Handley who was upbeat after her teams bounce-back win against the Big Green.
"It's great to come back from a tough weekend with that type of win," said Handley. "We had some good momentum down in Baltimore, unfortunately we didn't win any games, but that momentum really helped in this game and will push us through the rest of the season."
The River Hawks climb to 3-3 at home against foes outside the America East and can improve that mark with two more non-conference games tomorrow at 3 and 5 p.m. against Central Connecticut State.