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CLEARWATER, Fla. – Junior Tori Alcorn (Lowell, Mass.) went 4-for-6 (.667), including a pair of extra-base hits to lead the UMass Lowell softball team (4-11) to a 1-1 finish on day two of the Michele Smith Spring Break Tournament.
 
The River Hawks defeated North Dakota (5-16), 10-2, in five innings in game one before falling, 9-0, against USC Upstate (21-3) in game two.
 
"We played great in the first game and bounced back from those close games yesterday," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "We were able to score a lot of runs and make it a quick game. In the second game, USC Upstate is a good team and probably going to be ranked, so it wasn't so much about the score. I thought it was good that our girls kept battling through everything every single inning."
 
T. Alcorn added two runs and two RBI to her stat line for the day. Junior Alisha Welch (Langley, British Columbia) posted a team-high three RBI in the pair of games, while Sophomore Kate Mims (West Chester, Pa.) tallied two of her own on two hits (.667) against North Dakota. Freshman Brianna West (Fairfield, Conn.) rounded out the River Hawks with multiple hits in the outings, going 2-for-6 on the afternoon. Freshman Sydney Wash (Suffolk, Va.) earned the win in game one with four strikeouts. Junior Lauren Ramirez (Dracut, Mass.) and freshman Kaysee Talcik (Shelton, Conn.) split time in the circle in game two.
 
UMass Lowell and North Dakota combined for five runners left on in the first inning of game one, but UND got on the board in the top of the second thanks to a solo home run by Emily Bell. The River Hawks would answer quickly in their next trip to the plate, when T. Alcorn drove a two-run triple to right center and scored on a wild pitch, putting her squad on top, 3-1.
 
North Dakota used a triple and a sacrifice fly to cut the difference to one in third, but UMass Lowell made the score 4-2 in the bottom of the inning, as freshman Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.) ripped a two-bagger to right center to get in scoring position for Mims, who knocked her home on a base hit through the right side.
 
The River Hawks extended their buffer to 6-2 in the fourth with RBI from senior Alyssa Zinkiewicz (Massapequa, N.Y.) and junior Emily O'Brien (Salem, N.H.). Wash then fanned two in a row to end UND's chances in the fifth before Welch drove a three-run blast over the fence left, giving UMass Lowell the 9-2 edge. Later in the same at-bat, Mims stepped in with two outs and sent a single up the middle to score pinch runner Colleen Frank (Berkeley Heights, N.J.), securing the 10-2 victory in five innings.
 
Although T. Alcorn started off game two against USC Upstate with a double, it would be the only hit for UMass Lowell. The Spartans took an early, 1-0 lead in the top of the second before adding one more in the third on a sacrifice fly.
 
USC Upstate broke the game open with a six-run third that included a grand slam from Karla Beasley. The River Hawks were unable to get anything started in their next two chances, as the Spartans sealed the 9-0, five-inning outcome.  
 
The River Hawks wrap up play at the Michele Smith Tournament tomorrow, Sunday, March 13 when they square off against Butler at 11:15 a.m.