UMass Lowell softball only surrendered five runs over two games in their doubleheader against Bethune-Cookman. The problem was they were not able to score more than one run combined against the Wildcats.
In the first game, Lowell freshman Lauren Ramirez pitched a great game, going four and two-thirds innings giving up just one run on a single hit. She struck out six in that span.
“Our pitching was pretty good today and our defense was clearly better than it was yesterday, and that needs to be our bread and butter for us to be successful,” Head Coach Sean Cotter said to goriverhawks.com.
The River Hawks got themselves on the board first in game one when sophomore Brianna Martin was able to touch home on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead.
That lead would be short-lived, however, as Bethune-Cookman responded in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own to tie the game. They would then walk-off with a win thanks to a bases loaded single from Sabrina Anquiano.
In game two, the Wildcats got on the board first and then ratcheted down the defense, keeping UMass Lowell off the scoreboard and coasting to a 3-0 victory.
“We played five games in two days and the girls showed a lot of resolve in terms of our energy and battling in today’s games,” Cotter said to goriverhawks.com. “We lost some games against some postseason tested teams but it was a really competitive day.”
While the team has struggled through the beginning of its season to a 1-8 record, Cotter believes that it is just a matter of time until the team begins to find their winning ways.
“We’ve played some good competition early and we’ve more than held our own and now it’s just a matter of finding a way to win ballgames, “ Cotter said to goriverhawks.com. “I know that will come over the next three quarters of our season, and for us it’s still fairly early in the year and we’ll continue to get better. That’s the nature of our sport and the nature of our program, that we want to be playing our best ball in the middle to the end of the year and that’s certainly where we are.”
