WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Led by a .714 performance (5-7) at the plate by graduate student Courtney Cashman (Danvers, Mass.), the UMass Lowell softball team (13-14, 9-6 AE) swept a midweek doubleheader at Hartford (4-11, 2-11) on Tuesday.
 
The River Hawks first defeated Hartford, 6-4, in game one with a season-high 15 hits before earning a 2-0 shutout in game two. With the sweep, UMass Lowell has clinched a berth into the 2021 America East Championship.
 
"We played two very good games today," said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. "Our defense was solid and our bats were coming alive. It felt like we played to win."
 
Cashman added four RBI and three runs on the day, as well. Senior Sarah Ratcliffe (Pelham, N.H.) chipped in with three hits and two RBI, while classmate Sara Siteman (Hudson, N.H.) finished game one with three hits of her own.
 
In the circle, senior Lovina Capria (Deltona, Fla.) recorded six strikeouts to earn the game one victory and sophomore Ryley White (Wareham, Mass.) fanned 10 batters in game two for her eighth win and third shutout of the year.
 
The River Hawks got off to a quick start offensively in game one, as Cashman led off with an infield single and Ratcliffe followed with a two-run home run to right field.
 
Capria held the home team scoreless through her first five innings of work. The visitors carried that momentum up to the plate, adding one run in the fourth with a RBI from graduate student Christina Rizzi (Manorville, N.Y.) and two more runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run jack by Cashman that also scored senior Olivia Labbe (Rochester, Mass.), stretching the difference to 5-0.
 
Hartford clawed back into the game, though, rallying for four runs on six hits in the bottom of the sixth. However, Labbe scratched across classmate Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) in the seventh, and Capria forced two strikeouts and a groundout in the home half of the inning to secure the 6-4 outcome.
 
Game two started in much the same fashion as game one, with a first inning UMass Lowell long ball, this time off the bat of Cashman to put the visitors in front, 1-0.
 
White dominated in the circle throughout the contest, allowing just six hits and stranding six Hartford runners.
 
The River Hawks added an insurance run in the fifth, as junior Tori Mueller (Clovis, Calif.) slapped a single up the middle before scoring on a RBI double down the right field line by Cashman to help propel the team to the 2-0 win.
 
UMass Lowell and Hartford will wrap up the three-game America East series tomorrow, Wednesday, May 5, with a single game at 3 p.m.