Box Score 1 (PDF) | Box Score 2 (PDF)

ORONO, Maine – Six different batters each recorded one hit for the UMass Lowell softball team (5-29, 0-9 AE) in a pair of setbacks on Saturday, closing out the weekend series at America East Conference opponent Maine (15-13, 4-1 AE).
 
The River Hawks dropped game one, 6-0, before being defeated, 13-0, in five innings in game two.
 
"I felt like we couldn't do anything right," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "Just like positive energy can be contagious, right now all the negative things like errors and strikeouts are what we are passing onto one another. We can change it and turn it around. It's just going to start by letting go of all this stuff, stop worrying about wins and losses, and getting back to playing the game."
 
Junior Taylor August (Howell, N.J.) totaled one hit and one walk to help UMass Lowell at the plate. Also getting on the box score with a hit for the day was freshman pitcher Kaysee Talcik (Shelton, Conn.), who reached safely in her first collegiate at-bat. Talcik took the decision in game one with two strikeouts and came out of the bullpen to finish game two. Freshman Sydney Wash (Suffolk, Conn.) threw the last 4.2 innings of the first game, allowing no runs, while junior Lauren Ramirez (Dracut, Mass.) registered the loss in the final game.
 
The Black Bears jumped in front, 5-0, in the first inning of game one thanks to four hits, including a base-clearing double to deep center by Felicia Lennon.
 
August snapped the River Hawks' two-game hitless streak on a shot to right center with two outs in the second, but the squad was unable to extend the inning further. Maine would make the score 6-0 in the home half of the inning on a close play at the plate.
 
In the third inning, junior Tori Alcorn (Lowell, Mass.) reached on an error, although she was thrown out attempting to steal second. UMass Lowell held the Black Bears scoreless in their next at-bat with the help of a good catch in foul territory by freshman Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.), who was making her debut in left field. Junior Alisha Welch (Langley, British Columbia) tried to spark the River Hawk offense to life with a leadoff double to right in the fourth, but to no avail.
 
UMass Lowell threatened in the fifth, as sophomore Kate Mims (West Chester, Pa.) got aboard with a hard-hit infield single and rookie Brianna West (Fairfield, Conn.) forced a Maine miscue. The visitors also made noise in the seventh with a base hit from sophomore Samantha McQueen (Ewing, N.J.) and a walk by August, however, they did not scratch across a run, sealing the 6-0 outcome for the Black Bears.
 
Maine once again took advantage of its first trip to the dish in game two, putting together an early, 6-0 lead thanks in part to a three-run double by Kristen Nilend. Sophomore Vanessa Cooper (Pleasant Gap, Pa.), who reached on an error in the top of the second, advanced all the way to third before being stranded there. The home team then added to its buffer with five runs on six hits, making the difference 11-0 after two complete.
 
Talcik, in her first at-bat as a River Hawk, singled through the right side in the third, but the Black Bears used four hits to score two more runs in the latter half of the inning. The River Hawks left two on in the fourth, including Barker, who drove a ball to center to lead off the inning, and could not close the gap in the fifth, giving Maine the 13-0 win in five.  
 
The Black Bears now own an 8-2 advantage in the all-time series. The River Hawks' 12-game road stretch continues with a non-conference doubleheader at Dartmouth on Tuesday, April 12. First pitch for game one on Tuesday is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Hanover, N.H.