VESTAL, N.Y. – Senior Sarah Ratcliffe (Pelham, N.H.) finished the day batting a team-best .625, as the UMass Lowell softball team (11-14, 7-6 AE) went 1-1 in a pair of games against Binghamton (9-13, 4-10 AE) to wrap up the weekend action.
 
The River Hawks took game one, 4-2, to win the America East weekend series, 2-1, against the Bearcats. Binghamton then took the non-conference, fourth and final game of the weekend, 3-2, in eight innings.
 
"I thought we came out strong in both games today," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "We just couldn't get some hits to fall in the second game."
 
As a team, UMass Lowell recorded a season-high 12 hits in game one. Ratcliffe registered an impressive five hits in the pair of contests. Graduate student Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.), senior Sara Siteman (Hudson, Mass.) and freshman Abby Packard (Horseheads, N.Y.) added to the offense with three hits apiece, as well.
 
Sophomore Chelsea Runyon (Scripps Ranch, Calif.) picked up the game one win in the circle with two strikeouts in four innings of work. Senior Lovina Capria (Deltona, Fla.) came out of the bullpen and threw the last three innings for the save. Junior Kaylie See (Chino, Calif.) went the distance in game two, fanning four batters.
 
The River Hawks and Bearcats traded home runs to open the scoring in game one. Mikayla Alvarez homered to center in the first inning and Packard went yard with a line drive to left center in the second to knot the score at 1-1.
 
Binghamton pulled in front, 2-1, in the bottom of the second, but graduate student Jenny Lee (Woburn, Mass.) drove a RBI single to left in the third to force another stalemate, this time at 2-2. The difference-maker would be a two-run home run by Cashman in the fourth, as Capria would allow just one hit in the next three innings of work to secure the 4-2 win.
 
The teams combined for three runners left on base through the first inning and a half of game two before the Bearcats took a 1-0 edge in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by Allison L'Amoreaux.
 
The River Hawks erased the difference in the third when Ratcliffe went with an outside pitch, sending it to right to score junior Tori Mueller (Clovis, Calif.) all the way from second. However, Binghamton jumped right back in front, 2-1, in the home half of the inning, as Alvarez doubled to center, stole third and scored on an infield groundout.
 
However, Cashman led off the sixth with a two-bagger to right and advanced to second on a base hit by Ratcliffe before scoring on a wild pitch to even the board.
 
Neither side was able to plate the go-ahead run in the seventh, as See stranded Bearcats on first and second to send the game into extras. Packard accounted for the lone hit for the River Hawks in the top of the eighth, but it was Sophia Pappas who led off the bottom of the inning with a solo homer to end the game for her squad in walk-off fashion.  
 
The River Hawks will now remain on the road to wrap up their America East slate on Tuesday-Wednesday, May 4-5, when they visit Hartford.