Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
BATON ROUGE, La. – In a Tuesday doubleheader at Grambling State, the UMass Lowell softball team (4-9-1) earned an 11-0 shutout victory over the Lady Tigers (11-8-1), before darkness ended game two in a 3-3 tie.

Senior Cayla Tulley (Corona, Calif.) had a monster day at the plate for the River Hawks, leading them in both matchups and finishing the doubleheader a combined 5-for-6 with eight RBI and two runs scored. Her sixth-inning solo home run in game two tied the game at three before the game was brought to an end. 

Senior pitcher Ryley White (Wareham, Mass.) controlled game one from the circle, tossing a complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts. Grambling State just could not keep up with her pitching, as she allowed just two hits in seven innings of play.

UMass Lowell wasted no time scoring runs, as three River Hawks crossed the plate in the top of the first inning of game one. Graduate student Tori Muller (Clovis, Calif.) got it started with a single to center field and after junior Morgan Fisher (Glassboro, N.J.) reached on an error, Tulley smashed a base-clearing triple to center field to give the River Hawks a quick 2-0 lead. They added one more on an infield single by senior Darlene Gutierrez (Colton, Calif.)

As White continued to shut down the Lady Tigers' lineup, the River Hawks broke the game open even further in the fourth. Sophomore Emily Tow (North Kingstown, R.I.) hit a leadoff single to get things going, and eventually scored on a Grambling State error. Immediately following Tow's run, Mueller, Fisher and Tulley each had an RBI to plate three more runs. 

In the seventh, the River Hawks added to their cushion even more, tallying four more runs to make it an 11-run lead. Once again, it was Tow that led off the inning with a hit, this time a double to center field. After advancing to third on a freshman Shannon Howes (Palgrave, Ontario) bunt single, Tow crossed the plate on another Lady Tigers error. Tulley then approached the plate with the bases loaded and doubled to center field to clear the bases once again, making it 11-0. White was able to quickly retire the side in the bottom half to secure the shutout victory. 

Game two was an interesting one, as Mother Nature came into play and halted the game. After Tulley's game-tying solo home run in the sixth, the darkness began to take over and just like that, the doubleheader was over. 

The River Hawks took an early lead in the first inning, scoring two on RBI doubles from Fisher and Tulley. The Lady Tigers responded with a run of their own in the bottom half, as Jayda Williams got her bat on the ball for an RBI groundout, and added two more in the fourth on RBI singles from Cadashia Collins and India Wells. Tulley snuck in her late home run to tie it before the sunlight ran out and the game was called.  

Next up, the River Hawks will take on Southern University in another doubleheader tomorrow, Wednesday, March 8 at 4 p.m. CST / 5 p.m. EST.