River Hawks Defeated by UAlbany, 3-2, in Regular-Season Finale
ALBANY, N.Y. – Freshman Sara Siteman (Hudson, N.H.) went 2-for-2 at the plate with one RBI, as the UMass Lowell softball team (19-26, 12-5 AE) was defeated by UAlbany (28-13, 13-4 AE), 3-2, in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
With the decision, the Great Danes take the America East regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament next week, while UMass Lowell will take the No. 2 seed in their first ever post-season appearance.
“It was a tough weekend,” said Head Coach Danielle Henderson. “But it’s good that we get to extend our season and go to the tournament to try and turn this around. We haven’t been in this situation before and I know our team really wanted to win.”
Senior Vanessa Cooper (Pleasant Gap, Pa.) also logged a pair of hits in the decision and sophomore Courtney Cashman(Danvers, Mass.) recorded one RBI. Junior Kaysee Talcik (Shelton, Conn.) registered five strikeouts in the complete-game performance, as well.
The River Hawks put a runner on in each of the first two innings with a walk from sophomore Marianne Sparacia (Spring Hill, Fla.) and a base hit from Siteman, however, it was the Great Danes that broke open the scoring in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by Sarah Petzold.
The River Hawks were quick to answer in their next at-bat, though, loading the base with the help of a lead-off double from Cooper to bring up Siteman, who drew an RBI walk to knot the score at 1-1.
The Great Danes retaliated in the bottom of the third, regaining the upper hand on a one-out single to right. UAlbany then made the score 3-1 in the fourth when Petzold stole home.
UMass Lowell chipped away at the difference in the fifth thanks to an RBI double to center by Cashman that plated Sparacia, but the score was held at 3-2 for the remainder of the contest.
The River Hawks will now make their first appearance in the America East Championship in their first year of post-season eligibility at the Division I level. The championship will be hosted by Binghamton from May 9-12.
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