Box Score (PDF): Game 1 | Game 2

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Junior Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.) batted .500 (3-6) with two RBI on Saturday, as the UMass Lowell softball team (2-2) dropped a pair of decisions at the River City Leadoff.
 
The squad battled back from an 8-0 deficit in game one against ACC foe Georgia Tech before falling, 9-8, in extra innings. The River Hawks then faced an 8-0 loss against host Jacksonville.
 
"Today wasn't as good as yesterday," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "But we showed great fight in our first game and hopefully we'll take that into tomorrow."
 
Freshman Tori Mueller (Clovis, Calif.) also logged three hits on the day (.375). Senior Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.) led the squad with three RBI, while redshirt-junior Casey Harding (Cheshire, Conn.) recorded a team-best two runs scored. Sophomore Lovina Capria (Deltona, Fla.) did not allow any runs in 5.2 innings of work in game one before freshman Kaylie See (Chino, Calif.) made her first career start in game two.
 
In game one, a grand slam helped Georgia Tech take a 5-0 lead in the first inning. The designated home team then used back-to-back RBI singles to extend the difference to 8-0 in the next at-bat.
 
The River Hawks would plate their first runs of the day in the third when Mueller got on base with an infield single and Cashman followed with a two-run homer. The squad then cut the difference to 8-3 in the fourth on a base hit by West.
 
The five-run buffer stood until the top of the seventh, but the River Hawks continued to battle, putting together a two-out rally that knotted the game at 8-8. Harding and sophomore Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) kept the inning alive with RBI singles before Barker stepped in as a pinch hitter and drove a three-run long ball out of the park for the second straight day. Capria then retired the Yellow Jackets in order in the home half of the inning to force extra innings, but Georgia Tech was able to scratch the winning run across in the eighth to secure the 9-8 decision.
 
The River Hawks then faced Jacksonville for the second night in a row, and this time the Dolphins were able to jump out to an early, 1-0 lead with a RBI double in the bottom of the first. Jacksonville extended its margin in its next at-bat with the help of a three-run homer.
 
Sophomore Sara Siteman (Hudson, N.H.) singled in the fourth and Sparacia walked in the fifth, but both were stranded. The Dolphins would then add two runs in each of their next two trips to the dish to seal the shutout in six innings.
 
The River Hawks close out their weekend in Jacksonville tomorrow, Sunday, February 10 against Providence at 10 a.m.