FORT MYERS, Mass. – The UMass Lowell softball team (3-6) dropped a pair of decisions on day two of the FGCU Spring Break Invitational. The team fell, 2-1, in nine innings against Fordham to start the day before facing a tough, 4-1 setback against tournament host Florida Gulf Coast in the nightcap.
 
"Today was a tough day," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "I felt like we battled better in the second game than we did the first. FGCU was just a quick, aggressive team that was able to manufacture runs and take advantage of opportunities. I would also like to thank the UMass Lowell alums that are in the area that came out to support us tonight."
 
Junior Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) paced the River Hawks with three hits on the day (.429), while senior Marianne Sparacia (Spring Hill, Fla.) and freshman Cayla Tulley (Corona, Calif.) added two hits apiece. Freshman Chelsea Runyon (Scripps Ranch, Calif.) fanned a season-high six batters in the complete-game performance against Fordham, and classmate Ryley White (Wareham, Mass.) totaled five of her own against FGCU.
 
Game one against Fordham was a defensive battle, as the teams were locked in a scoreless stalemate for the entirety of the seven innings of regulation. 
 
Runyon led the River Hawks on the defensive end, holding the Rams to just two hits through the first five innings. At the plate, Sparacia and Moccio registered back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first, but the team would not put another runner in scoring position until extras.
 
Playing by the international tiebreaker rules, a runner was placed on second to start each at-bat in extra innings. Fordham would plate the first run of the day on a sacrifice fly in the top eighth. Senior Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.) then responded with a RBI single up the middle to score junior Olivia Labbe (Rochester, Mass.) in the home half of the inning, knotting the score at 1-1. However, the Rams used another sac fly to score what would be the game-winning run in the top of the ninth, as UMass Lowell was unable to answer in its final opportunity in the 2-1 setback.
 
The River Hawks were quick to load the bases in their first trip to the dish in game two against FGCU, bringing up senior Christina Rizzi (Manorville, N.Y.) who drove a base hit to the grass to put her team on top, 1-0.
 
The Eagles erased the difference in the second before the teams combined for just one hit in the following two innings. In the fifth, FGCU pulled away, 3-1, though, with the help of an error and a hit before tallying an insurance run in the sixth en route to the 4-1 outcome.
 
The River Hawks will wrap up the weekend in Florida against Southern Illinois tomorrow, Sunday, February 23, at 9 a.m.