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MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – Senior Ally Greene (Tewksbury, Mass.) averaged a team-best .750 (3-4) at the plate with a 1.000 slugging percentage, as the UMass Lowell softball team improved to 8-6 on the year with a pair of victories on the second day of the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational.
 
The River Hawks defeated the University of North Dakota, 6-3, in addition to downing Siena College, 7-1.
 
"Today was another great day," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "We had quality at-bats to get on base and then were able to hit well with runners on early in the games to get ahead."
 
Senior Ariana Darcy (Kingston, N.Y.) and freshman Vanessa Cooper (Pleasant Gap, Pa.) both went 2-for-3 to add to the offense. Greene and Cooper paced the squad with three RBI apiece. Junior Marielle Handley (Durham, Conn.) and sophomore Erica Armenti (Shrewsbury, Mass.) each pitched a game, hurling seven and four strikeouts, respectively.
 
In game one, the River Hawks pulled ahead, 1-0, in their first trip to the dish when Brianna Martin (Methuen, Mass.) led off with a walk, advanced on the next two plays, and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Emily O'Brien (Salem, N.H.). Handley struck out the UND side in the top of the second before the River Hawks put together a five-run rally in the home half of the inning. The team loaded the bases with no outs thanks to a pair of walks and a miscue by North Dakota, bringing up Greene, who sent a RBI single through the right side to make the score 2-0. Later in the same at-bat, junior Alyssa Zinkiewicz (Massapequa, N.Y.) drove a two-out grand slam over the wall in left center to extend her team's margin to 6-0.
 
The teams combined for three runners left on base in the third, but UND did not waste any time in the fourth, recording a leadoff home run to get on the board.  In the home half of the fifth, freshman Kate Mims (West Chester, Pa.) and sophomore Alisha Welch (Langley, British Columbia) connected on back-to-back base hits and Greene walked to load the bases, but all three were stranded there. Both teams went three-up and three-down in the sixth and although UND added two more runs in the top of the seventh, the River Hawks held on to take the 6-3 decision.
 
In game two against Siena, UMass Lowell took the lead in the bottom of the second. Darcy, Welch and senior Abby Jamieson (Billerica, Mass.) loaded the bases to bring up Greene, who belted a two-RBI double to left center. Sophomore Tori Alcorn (Lowell, Mass.) followed with a sacrifice fly to make the score, 3-0, in favor of the home team.
 
Siena left two on in the third, but was retired in order in the fourth. In the River Hawks next at-bat, the squad added three more runs off the bats of junior Emilia Davies (Parker, Colo.) and Cooper.
 
UMass Lowell added its final run of the day in the sixth with a solo home run by Cooper. The Saints would get one back in the seventh on a homer of their own, but UMass Lowell shut the door to earn the 7-1 win.
 
The River Hawks wrap up the tournament with one more game tomorrow, Sunday, February 22, against host Eastern Michigan beginning at 11:30 a.m.