River Hawks Fall to BC in Home Finale 5-3

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River Hawks Fall to BC in Home Finale 5-3

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell River Hawks softball team (19-23) faced a 5-3 setback against Boston College (27-21) in the squad’s 2018 home finale at River View Field on Tuesday.

“I thought we started off a little flat,” said head coach Danielle Henderson. “We could’ve played defense a little better, so we didn’t really set the tone, but what I did like was we turned it around. We started to get momentum back in our favor and we were able to score a few runs.”

Four different River Hawks logged a hit in the decision, including senior Madison Alcorn (Lowell, Mass.) and sophomore Marianne Sparacia (Spring Hill, Fla.), who each registered one RBI. Junior Kaysee Talcik (Shelton, Conn.) threw five perfect innings in relief, retiring all 15 batters she faced.

The Eagles jumped on top in their first trip to the dish, using a RBI single and a sacrifice fly to plate a pair of runs. The visitors then added three unearned runs in the second to pull away, 5-0.

The River Hawks put their first runners on base in the bottom of the second when red-shirt sophomore Casey Harding(Cheshire, Conn.) walked, and junior Sydney Barker (Upland, Calif.) reached on an error, although the Eagles would turn a double play to extinguish the opportunity.

Talcik entered the game in the top of the third and retired the first nine straight batters she faced to keep the River Hawks within five after four complete.

In the fifth, UMass Lowell broke up the no-hitter with a lead-off single to the left by Moccio, who extended her current hit streak to five games. The squad then cut the difference to 5-2 in the same at-bat, scoring a runs on a stand-up triple from Alcorn and a base hit up the middle by Sparacia.

The home team chipped away with one more run in the sixth on an infield single by Barker, although the Eagles would hole on for the 5-3 decision.

The River Hawks will wrap up the regular season with a three-game series at UAlbany, as they look to earn their first America East regular-season title on Friday, May 4th and Saturday, May 5th.