LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) batted .500 with two hits and a RBI, as the UMass Lowell softball team (9-10, 5-3 AE) split a Senior Day twin bill against America East foe UMBC (16-9, 5-3 AE).
 
The River Hawks faced a 5-0 setback in game one, but bounced back offensively to take game two, 4-1.
 
"I thought today was ok," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "After a long pause like the one we are coming off of, it's probably not the best pitcher in the league that we want to face. We would've liked to have a few more at-bats before that, but I thought we were able to bounce back in the second game and get things rolling. We knew what to expect coming into today. UMBC has been scoring some runs and they have a very good pitcher, so we just need to make better adjustments at the plate and it'll be a whole different ballgame tomorrow."
 
Besides Moccio, five other River Hawks logged a hit on the day, including senior Olivia Labbe (Rochester, Mass.), who roped her second home run of the year in the nightcap. Fellow senior Sarah Ratcliffe (Pelham, N.H.) scored a team-high two runs in the doubleheader, as well.
 
UMBC's Courtney Coppersmith registered her first no-hitter of the year with 17 strikeouts in game one, while sophomore Ryley White (Wareham, Mass.) fanned three batters in 4.1 innings of work to earn the win for the River Hawks in game two. Sophomore Chelsea Runyon (Scripps Ranch, Calif.) closed out the last 2.2 innings to pick up the save with three strikeouts of her own.
 
Graduate student Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.) led off game one with a walk, but Coppersmith went onto hold the River Hawks without another baserunner in the contest.
 
The Retrievers took advantage of their strong pitching, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning thanks to two hits and a sacrifice fly by Meghan Dempsey. The visitors then tacked one on in the third with another sac fly, as Sierra Pierce plated Julia Keffler, who had reached on a double.
 
UMBC would round out its scoring with one run in each of the fifth and seventh innings, capitalizing on a pair of River Hawk miscues to earn the 5-0 outcome.
 
However, the River Hawks turned up the offense to start off game two, using RBI singles from Ratcliffe and Moccio to pull in front, 2-0, in the first inning.
 
UMBC threatened to erase the difference by loading the bases in the second, but White forced a pop-up to get out of the inning unscathed. Labbe followed with a dinger to straightaway center in the home half of the inning, stretching the difference to 3-0.
 
The visitors got on the board in the top of the fourth when they loaded the bases once again before Maddie Daigneau put a ball on the ground in the infield to scratch across the team's lone run.
 
Runyon was called out of the bullpen in the top fifth and pitched herself out of bases loaded jam to keep her team on top. Senior Sara Siteman (Hudson, N.H.) then added an insurance run for the River Hawks in the bottom of the fifth with a shot to center that scored Ratcliffe all the way from second, helping to secure the 4-1 victory.
 
The River Hawks and Retrievers will now compete in the series' rubber match tomorrow, Sunday, April 25, at noon.