Box Score (PDF): Game 1 | Game 2

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Junior Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.) batted .714 (5-7) to lead the UMass Lowell softball team (3-4) to a 1-1 split on day one of the Holy City Showdown in Charleston.
 
The River Hawks first dropped a tough, 4-3 decision in extra innings against Marshall before coming from behind for a walk-off, 2-1 victory against Radford.

"We competed well right until the end of both games," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "The first game was a heartbreaker that gave us the confidence to come out on top in the second game."
 
Cashman boasted a 1.286 slugging percentage that included a double and a home run, in addition to a team-best two RBI. Junior Marianne Sparacia (Spring Hill, Fla.) also turned in a multiple-hit day with a .400 average. Senior Kaysee Talcik (Shelton, Conn.) went the distance against Marshall with four strikeouts, while sophomore Lovina Capria (Deltona, Fla.) picked up her second win of the year with six strikeouts against Radford.
 
In game one against Marshall, the River Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, as freshman Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) doubled to center, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Brianna West (Fairfield, Conn.) and eventually scored on a RBI single by Sparacia.
 
Talcik did not allow a hit for the Herd until the bottom of the fourth inning, although a two-run double in the sixth by Briana Daiss put Marshall on top late, 2-1. The River Hawks answered, however, with a solo shot by Cashman in the top of the seventh to knot the score and force extra innings.
 
Senior Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.) stepped in as a pinch hitter in the eighth and ripped an infield single that scored the go-ahead run in the form of freshman Sarah Ratcliffe (Pelham, N.H.), but Mya Stevenson's two-run home run sealed the 4-3 victory for the Herd in the bottom of the inning.
 
Later in the day against Radford, the teams combined for just two runners through the first two innings before the Highlanders got on the board in the top of the third with a RBI base hit to right field.
 
The one-run margin remained intact for almost three complete innings until Cashman plated freshman Tori Mueller (Clovis, Calif.) in the home half of the sixth to erase the difference. Capria then retired the Radford side in order in the top of the seventh, giving her squad the momentum to complete the comeback. In UMass Lowell's final at-bat, sophomore Olivia Labbe (Rochester, Mass.) came to the plate with runners on the corners and lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring redshirt-junior Casey Harding (Cheshire, Conn.) and giving her squad the 2-1 win.
 
The River Hawks will play two more games in Charleston tomorrow, taking on UNC Wilmington at 10 a.m. and tournament co-host Charleston Southern at 2:30 p.m.