Box Score (PDF): Game 1 | Game 2

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell softball team (12-20) dropped a non-conference doubleheader against Army West Point (18-21) on Saturday afternoon at River View Field.
 
The River Hawks faced a 6-3 setback in game one before falling, 20-8, in five innings in game two.
 
"I don't think this was our best performance," Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "Things didn't go how we expected. Every time Army hit the ball, it was hard. What I liked to see in the second game was that even though the score was so lopsided, we still went in there and had good at-bats, and still kept fighting."
 
Sophomore Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.) each batted .500 (3-6) on the day. Cashman paced the River Hawks with three runs scored, while Barker recorded two RBI. Senior Samantha McQueen (Ewing, N.J.) also totaled three hits in the pair of games.
 
The Black Knights took advantage of their first trip to the plate, opening game one with back-to-back hits for a 1-0 lead. The River Hawks were quick to retaliate, though, when senior Madison Alcorn (Lowell, Mass.) led off the home half of the inning with a single up the middle before eventually scoring on an overthrow to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Neither team was able to plate a run in the second, but the visitors would use a pair of homers in the third to pull ahead, 4-1. UMass Lowell answered once again in the home half of the inning, chipping away at the difference with two runs, including a RBI single from Barker, to close the gap to 4-3.
 
Army added one to its buffer in the fourth, and although the River Hawks put two in scoring position in the bottom of the inning and two more on in the sixth, the Black Knights made the score 6-3 in the top of the seventh with a base hit through the right side. The River Hawks threatened in their final at-bat, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Army held on to earn the decision.
 
In game two, Army jumped out to a 3-0 lead on four hits in the first, including a lead-off solo home run. UMass Lowell erased the difference in their first trip to the dish thanks to RBI singles from McQueen and Barker, but the Black Knights used a three-run homer as part of a five-run rally in the second to pull away, 8-3.
 
Junior Marisa Carrasco (Peoria, Ariz.) started the home half of the inning with a solo home run before redshirt-sophomore Casey Harding (Cheshire, Conn.) ripped a shot off the shortstop's glove to plate Cashman and cut the difference to just three. However, Army added another five runs, four of which came off of two more long balls, to create a 13-5 margin.
 
Freshman Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) would single down the left field line to get one back for the home team, but Army rallied for seven more in the fourth with the help of Amelia Trotter's second homer of the game. The River Hawks logged the final runs of the contest in the fifth, as Army took the 20-8 decision.
 
The River Hawks return to action on Tuesday, April 17 when they host Boston University in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.