BOX SCORE - GAME ONE
BOX SCORE - GAME TWO

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In its final day in the Sunshine State, the University of Hartford softball team was swept by the Betune-Cookman Wildcats at Sunnyland Park on Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats scored a 6-2 victory in the opening game and took the second game by a 15-0 final in five innings.

Hartford, which falls to 4-14, will return to the Northeast for the start of America East Conference play, which kicks-off with a three game weekend series at Stony Brook. The Hawks and Seawolves are slated to play a doubleheader on Saturday, with the first pitch being thrown at 1:00 p.m., and will conclude the series with a single game on Sunday at 12 noon.

In the opening game of the afternoon, the Wildcats jumped ahead, 3-0, in the second inning and never looked back. Bethune-Cookman (16-20) added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-0 game and went on to plate a single run in the bottom of the fifth to take the advantage at 6-0.

In their final at-bats, the Hawks put a pair of runs up on the scoreboard as Jackie Kelly notched a one-out, base hit to short stop and Margaret Betz reached base on an error. With two outs, Hartford loaded up the bases when Devynne Butler earned a walk, allowing the Hawks' first run to cross the plate when Amber Andrews was hit by a Tolbert pitch.

With the bases still loaded, Erica Phelps ripped her second single of the game to score Betz from third to make it a 6-2 contest. The Hawks, however, would not plate any more runs in the outing.

Shanel Tolbert threw a six-hit shutout in the nightcap and Bethune-Cookman's bats were hot as it slammed the scoreboard with four runs in the opening inning and followed that frame with five more in the bottom of the second to push ahead 9-0. The Wildcats added four more tallies in the bottom of the third and in the fourth stanza, they plated a pair of runs to grab the 15-0 win.

Butler was the lone Hawk to finish with multiple hits in game two as she went 2-for-2 at the plate. Four other Hartford players made contact for hits with sophomore Chelsey Mooney notching the team's only extra-base hit, a double to lead off the top of the fourth inning.

Rookie Eve Clausen took the loss in the circle, allowing 11 runs – nine earned – in 3.0 innings of work.