UMass Lowell Athletics

Box Score (PDF)

LOWELL, Mass. – Freshman Sarah Ratcliffe (Pelham, N.H.) put a punctuation mark on the weekend series with a walk-off grand slam to seal an 11-1 decision for the UMass Lowell softball team (11-17, 5-1 AE) in game three against Hartford (6-17, 0-6 AE) on Sunday afternoon.
 
With the decision, UMass Lowell swept the three-game series against America East rival Hartford. Nine different River Hawks logged at least one hit in the outing, including sophomore Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.), who finished with two hits and two RBI, and junior Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.), who added a pair of RBI. Freshman pitcher Katelyn Ellard (Cary, N.C.) recorded her first career win with five strikeouts, while allowing just one run on three hits in the complete-game performance.
 
"I thought the team started off today just where they left off yesterday," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "We had great energy in every inning and our at-bats were even better today with a lot of solid line drives. We were seeing the ball well."
 
Hartford took advantage of its first at-bat, using a solo home run from Danielle Rocheleau to jump out to a 1-0 lead. However, Cashman quickly answered for the River Hawks in their first trip to the dish, sending a hard liner bouncing off and over the top of the fence in right to knot the score at 1-1.
 
UMass Lowell pulled in front in the second, as senior Vanessa Cooper (Pleasant Gap, Pa.) drove a base hit to center field before pinch runner Colleen Frank (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) scored on a hard-hit single through the left side by senior Madison Alcorn (Lowell, Mass.).
 
Ellard's pitching left two stranded for the visitors in the top of the third, allowing the River Hawks to extend their margin to 5-1 in the home half of the inning. In that at-bat, Barker sent a two-run double to the wall in straight-away center and senior Samantha McQueen (Ewing, N.J.) ripped a RBI single through the left side.
 
Neither side was able to make noise in the fourth or fifth innings, but the home squad stretched the difference to rallied for six runs in the sixth and ended the game early thanks to Ratcliffe's first career grand slam.
 
The River Hawks will continue conference play next week, as they travel to Maine for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 11 beginning at 2 p.m.