BALTIMORE, Md. – The UMass Lowell softball team (24-16, 8-5 America East) is slated for a Sunday rubber match with conference leading UMBC (25-9, 9-5 America East) following a Saturday split.
The River Hawks opened the weekend series with a 4-0 shutout win against the Retrievers before falling, 6-0, in game two.
Junior
Chelsea Runyon demonstrated her command from the pitcher's circle to get her sixth win of the season, striking out ten Retriever hitters and only allowing two hits. In the River Hawk victory, senior
Tori Mueller (Clovis, Calif.) and sophomore
Morgan Fisher (Glassboro, N.J.) both recorded two hits. Graduate student
Maria Moccio (Feeding Hills, Mass.) also continued her hot streak at the plate by knocking in an RBI for the squad.
"Chelsea and
Kaylie See (Chino, Calif.) were awesome from the circle for us today," said Head Coach
Jen Starek. "Both of them had quality performances. Defensively, we made good plays in the field. At the plate, I think we were focused during our at-bats."
A leadoff triple from Mueller started things off for UMass Lowell. She was brought in on the following at-bat by Fisher when she punched the ball through the left side for a single to jump out to the early lead.
Mueller was able to kick the offense into gear again in the third frame, as the River Hawks loaded the bags. Junior
Cayla Tulley (Corona, Calif.) then connected to drive a ball deep into center field to score Mueller on a sacrifice fly, bringing the squad's advantage to 2-0.
The Retrievers were able to pressure in the home half of the fourth by getting runners to the corners with two outs. However, Runyon ended the UMBC scoring threat with a strikeout to draw the inning to a close.
In the top of the fifth, UMass Lowell took advantage with runners on to strengthen their lead to 4-0. Moccio brought her streak of reaching base to ten straight games with an RBI single into left field to drive in Tulley. Later in the inning, freshman
Emily Tow (North Kingtown, R.I.) pinch hit and got to second safely on an RBI knock to the shortstop.
A pair of strikeouts from Runyon in the final frame closed the door on game one, sealing the shutout victory for the River Hawks.
The page turned to game two where the Retrievers capitalized first and took a 2-0 lead after the opening inning. In the third frame, the opponents opened the gap to 6-0 following a couple of home runs.
Offensively, the River Hawks' lone hit came off the bat of sophomore
Becca Vaillancourt (Tiverton, R.I.) via a leadoff double in the top of the fourth.
UMass Lowell was unable to generate baserunners throughout the remainder of the ball game, resulting in the 6-0 decision.
They will look to conclude the weekend with a series win on Sunday, May 1, at 12 p.m. in Baltimore.
