The River Hawks fall to a 12-20 overall record. (Courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics)

Jason Ounpraseuth
Connector Editor

The UMass Lowell softball team fell short in their doubleheader against the Army West Point Black Knights on April 14 at River View Field. The losses put UMass Lowell’s overall record at 12-20.

“We were trying to use it [the two games] to build into conference play. They just hit the ball better than us,” said head coach Danielle Henderson.

UMass Lowell dropped the first game, 6-3.

Junior pitcher Kaysee Talick pitched a complete game for UMass Lowell in game one. She struck out six batters and only walked two. Her record falls to 2-13.

The River Hawks got their runs early off Army freshman pitcher Courtney Springman. In the first inning, sophomore shortstop Courtney Cashman stole a base forcing an error that helped bring a runner home to tie the game 1-1.

Army then took a 4-1 lead at the top of the third inning. Runs batted in (RBI) singles from redshirt-sophomore outfielder Casey Harding and junior designated player Sydney Barker brought the score to 4-3 for UMass Lowell.

The River Hawks were then held scoreless for four straight innings. “I don’t think we played poor defense,” said Henderson. “We should have been able to capitalize a little more in the first game with runs.”

UMass Lowell left 13 runners on base in game 1.

The River Hawks lost the second game, 20-8.

Freshman pitcher Katelyn Ellard pitched the second game for the River Hawks for three and a third innings. Freshman pitcher Lovina Capria came on for relief and finished the game up to the fifth inning. Ellard’s record drops to 1-4.

“It’s hard to be down by that much, but they still battled,” said Henderson.

Despite the lead Army built up, the River Hawks continued to mount a comeback one batter at a time.

UMass Lowell went down 3-0 at the start of the first inning. The River Hawks responded by scoring three runs of their own. Barker and senior outfielder Samantha McQueen scored on RBI singles. McQueen later scored off a wild pitch.

Army batted their way to an 8-3 lead in the second inning thanks to a three-run home run. Junior catcher Marisa Carrasco responded right away for the River Hawks with a solo home run, which was her first of the season. A RBI single for Harding cuts the deficit to 8-5.

Army did most of their damage in the third and fourth innings gaining 20 runs. RBI singles from freshman first baseman Maria Moccio and freshman outfielder Meghan Chojnowski in the third and fourth innings sparked a comeback rally attempt for UMass Lowell. Chojnowski scored off a fielder’s choice at the end of the fifth inning, but it was not enough to rally UMass Lowell back into the game.

Through both games, Cashman batted 3-6 and earned three runs in total. Barker also batted 3-6 earning one RBI and two runs in total.

UMass Lowell will move on to play a doubleheader at home against Boston University on Tuesday April 17.