Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LOWELL, Mass. – The University of Hartford softball team split a pair of games at UMass Lowell on Friday afternoon. After falling to the River Hawks, 4-1, in the two teams' inaugural Division I meeting, the Hawks bounced back to score a 7-5 win at River View Field. Hartford moves to 8-29 (2-15) with the split while UMass Lowell shits to 12-36 (2-14). Both seasons will conclude on Saturday afternoon with a single game at 12 noon.

Playing in the final conference series of her career, senior Amber Andrews enjoyed a career day at the plate. The second baseman homered twice, once in each outing, to finish at 2-for-3 at the plate on the afternoon. Also finishing with three hits in six at-bats was Jackie Kelly, a junior who joined Andrews with a pair of RBI.

It took just one batter for Hartford to jump out to a 1-0 lead as Andrews, the squad's lead-off hitter, blasted a solo home run, her first of the year, on an 0-2 count to break open the game with a bang. The Hawks held on to that lead for three innings, conceding just two singles to the River Hawks during that stretch, until the home team knotted up the contest at one run apiece in the bottom half of the fourth.

Scoring the game-tying run in the same fashion as Hartford did to start things off using one swing of the bat from Abby Jamieson to begin the frame, the River Hawks broke the contest open in the following inning. Loading up the paths on three walks, Emily O'Brien cleared the bases with two outs recorded in the stanza to put the home team out in front by a 4-1 count.

After going down in order in the top of the sixth, Andrews attempted to spark a comeback bid for the Hawks after doubling to center field to lead things off. River Hawks' starter Marielle Handley, though, silenced any threat as she retired the next three Hartford batters to end the game. A sophomore, she finished with three strikeouts to improve to 7-17 on the season. For the Hawks, senior Zuzana Kudernatschova suffered the loss, allowing four earned runs on five hits while recording three strikeouts.  

The Hawks came back to take the nightcap, despite facing an early deficit. After the afternoon's third long ball flew off the barrel of Alyssa Zinkiewicz to lead off UMass Lowell's at-bats in the game, Hartford rallied for a three-run, third inning, using three hits in the frame to take the advantage.

Freshman Marisa Ferguson singled in the game-tying and go-ahead runs with a blast to left field, while sophomore Sawyer Fried provided the two-run cushion in the next at-bat with an RBI single to the opposite side of the field. Kelly, the Hawks' third baseman, got the bats going in the inning, ripping a single down the middle of the infield to start things off. After advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt, UMass Lowell intentionally walked Andrews, allowing a wild pitch to put both runners in scoring position for Ferguson's bases-clearing hit.

Hartford expanded on its lead in the top part of the sixth, plating three runs to push ahead, 6-1. After Fried led off the stanza with a single through the left side of the field, the Hawks capitalized on a pair of River Hawks' miscues in the field to push the catcher across home plate for the first run of the inning. With Mackenzie Obert and Margaret Betz on second and third, respectively, Kelly brought home both of her teammates with a bases-clearing two-bagger to give her team the five-run advantage.

In the next at-bats, UMass Lowell mounted a comeback, as a triple by Martin with two runners on board pulled the River Hawks within three. It wasn't enough, though, as Andrews single-handedly closed the door on the home squad by lofting a lead-off homer, her second of the day, over the left field wall in the top of the seventh to provide a four-run cushion.

Earning the win for the Hawks was freshman Lexi Wilkerson, who allowed four earned runs on seven hits in seven innings.