LOWELL, Mass. – Graduate student Christina Rizzi (Manorville, N.Y.) went 5-for-6 (.833) at the plate with four RBI and four runs scored to propel the UMass Lowell softball team (6-7, 2-0 AE) to a pair of wins against UAlbany (4-10, 0-2 AE) in the teams' first America East series of 2021.
 
The doubleheader marked the first conference action for the River Hawks in 688 days. The home team took game one, 8-5, before earning an 8-0 shutout in just five innings in game two to remain undefeated at River View Field in 2021.  
 
"I just thought we were in both games, from the first pitch to the last," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "This is how I know we can play. We were competitive, and we didn't let anything stop us no matter what happened throughout the game, we answered back. In the second game, I thought we took charge and went with it."
 
Senior Sarah Ratcliffe (Pelham, N.H.) hit .714 with three RBI and five hits, including two doubles. Classmate Sarah Siteman (Hudson, N.H.) added two hits of her own for a .400 showing, as well. Graduate student Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.), who totaled a team-best four walks on the day, provided a two-run, walk-off home run in game two, tying the program's all-time career record for homers at 35.
 
In the circle, senior Lovina Capria (Deltona, Fla.) went the distance in game one with seven strikeouts in the win. In game two, sophomore Ryley White (Wareham, Mass.) held the visitors to just two hits in the shutout.
 
The Great Danes got on the board first in game one with a lead-off home run to straightaway center in the top second by Maranda Jimenez. The River Hawks answered in the bottom of inning, though, loading the bases for Rizzi, who drilled a laser up the middle to plate two. Ratcliffe followed with a RBI double down the left field line and Siteman added a two-run shot to right center to put the home team up, 5-1.
 
Capria pitched her way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the third, but the Great Danes cut the difference back to two in the top of the fourth, capitalizing on a solo homer by Kelly Barkevich and a trio of River Hawk miscues.
 
UMass Lowell responded with three runs in the home half of the fourth, two of which came off the bat of sophomore Brenna Davenport (Merrimack, N.H.), to take their largest lead yet, 8-3. UAlbany would then get two back in the fifth, but Capria finished the game with back-to-back, 1-2-3 frames to secure the 8-5 outcome for her squad.
 
The River Hawks kept the offense rolling to start game two, as Cashman led off with a walk and Rizzi followed with a single before both runners scored on a hard-hit, two-bagger up the middle by Ratcliffe.
 
Meanwhile on defense, White held the Great Danes to just one hit through their first four trips to the dish. The River Hawks then rallied for four runs in the fourth with the help of Rizzi's first long ball of the season. Cashman ended the game early in the fifth when she tagged a liner over the fence in center.  
 
The River Hawks and Great Danes will wrap up the three-game series tomorrow morning, Sunday, March 28, at 10 a.m.