ORONO, Maine — Behind a six-run fifth inning and a complete-game performance from junior Olivia DeCitise (Troy, N.Y.), the UMass Lowell softball team (25-25) opened the 2026 America East Championship with an 8-1 victory over UAlbany (24-19) on Wednesday morning at the Labat Softball Complex.
Sophomore Thyanais Santiago (Methuen, Mass.) led the River Hawks offensively, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, while junior Isabel Quintanilla (Puyallup, Wash.) drove in two runs on a key fifth-inning double. Sophomore Emily Baumes (Rexford, N.Y.) added a pair of hits, and sophomore Kate Hardy (Alexandria, Va.) delivered a pivotal two-run pinch-hit single during the breakout inning. In the circle, DeCitise tossed a complete game, allowing just one run on eight hits with three strikeouts to improve to 16-10 on the season.
After four scoreless innings from both sides, UAlbany scratched across the game's first run in the bottom of the third on an RBI groundout. DeCitise stranded two runners in the fourth to keep the deficit at one before the River Hawk offense erupted in the fifth.
Junior Madi Wade (Hagerstown, Md.) opened the inning with a single before freshman Caroline Calkins (Orting, Wash.) and Baumes loaded the bases. Hardy then sparked the rally with a two-run single up the middle to give Lowell its first lead of the day. Moments later, junior Elizabeth Neeld (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) lifted a sacrifice fly to extend the advantage before Santiago and Quintanilla followed with RBI hits to cap the six-run frame and put the River Hawks in front, 6-1.
The River Hawks added insurance in the sixth when sophomore Avery Spinello-Branch (Lorton, Va.) drove in a run on a fielder's choice, scoring freshman Julia Rowley (Beacon Falls, Conn.), who reached earlier in the inning with a single. Lowell tacked on one more in the seventh after Santiago scored on a UAlbany throwing error.
Defensively, Lowell turned a key double play in the fifth inning to erase a leadoff single and help DeCitise settle back in after the offensive surge. The junior retired six of the final seven batters she faced to close out the opening-round win.
With the victory, the River Hawks advance in the winner's bracket of the America East Championship and will face Bryant on Thursday morning at 11 a.m.
