FORT MYERS, Fla. – Senior Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.) logged the game-winning RBI to help lift the UMass Lowell softball team (4-6) to a 2-1 victory in nine innings against Southern Illinois to close out the FGCU Spring Break Invitational.
 
After the River Hawks forced extra innings with the tying run in the top of the seventh, the sides played through the eighth still locked at 1-1. However, in the ninth, Cashman drove a double to straight-away center, allowing junior Olivia Labbe (Rochester, Mass.) to score. Junior Lovina Capria (Deltona, Fla.) then took control in the circle, forcing three consecutive outs in the bottom of the inning to complete the comeback.

"We played a great game today," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "We learned from the past two times we were in extra innings and were able to pull through in the end."
 
Cashman totaled three hits in the contest, while five other River Hawks recorded one apiece, including senior Marianne Sparacia (Spring Hill, Fla.), who registered UMass Lowell's only other RBI in the outing. Capria improved to 4-0 on the season with the complete-game performance.
 
Leading off the game, Cashman roped an infield single before junior Sara Siteman (Hudson, N.H.) started the second with a two-bagger to left center, but it was Southern Illinois that doubled in the first run in the bottom of the third.
 
In the fourth, the River Hawks threatened to knot it up, as senior Melany Sheldon (Garbagnate, Milan, Italy) reached on an error and advanced all the way to third on wild pitches, although she was stranded there. UMass Lowell left two more on in the fifth, but would scratch across the tying run in the top of the seventh thanks to a RBI single through the right side by Sparacia that scored sophomore Tori Mueller (Clovis, Calif.).
 
The River Hawks are now off until March 6 when they head to Austin Peay for another five-game tournament.