BALTIMORE, Md.  –  The University of Hartford softball team opened up its America East Conference slate on Sunday at UMBC, where it dropped a pair of games. The Hawks first fell to the Retrievers, 10-0, in five innings to start the day before suffering a 9-1, five inning loss in the nightcap. Hartford (1-19) starts league play with an 0-2 record while UMBC, which has won 12 of its last 15 games, improves to 12-11 on the season and 2-0 in the conference.

Sophomore Marisa Ferguson paced the Hawks on the afternoon as she went 1-of-2 at the plate with a double and an RBI. Classmate Danielle DeMarco also combined to go 2-for-4 on the afternoon, seeing one of her hits go for extra bases.

The Hawks and Retrievers will conclude the series on Monday with a single game at 1 p.m.

GAME ONE:
Using five hits, UMBC jumped out to a 9-0 lead after the first inning of conference play and held on for the victory. A double down the left field line put the Retrievers on the board by plating Tori Alexander and Danielle O'Neill, who started the bottom of the frame off with a single and a walk, respectively. That two-run lead was extended to 3-0 in the next at-bat on an RBI single through the middle by Kelly Lane before Bridget O'Malley homered to put her team up by five runs.

Another home run in the ensuing at-bat would make it a 6-0 UMBC lead before Hawks' starter Bianca Ross was relieved by sophomore Lexi Wilkerson. UMBC took a 9-0 advantage before the end of the opening frame as the Retrievers cashed in on five-straight walks.

Pitcher Jessica Holte scattered four hits to earn the shutout victory for UMBC and improve to 6-5 on the season. Sawyer Fried, Ferguson, DeMarco and Jamie Soles each recorded hits for the Hawks. Ross dips to 0-10 on the year with the setback.
 
GAME TWO:
Hartford threatened early on in the nightcap on Sunday, as it put a pair of runners in scoring position to open things up. With one out, Ferguson got on base via an infield single before Soles slammed a two-bagger with a hit to left center to put runners on second and third early on. The Hawks were unable to manufacture a run out of the early hits, though, as UMBC starter Kim Puccio got out of the jam by inducing a pair of fly-outs to end the frame scoreless.

In its first at-bats, UMBC made a charge and produced two runs by loading the bases up with zero outs recorded in the frame. After Kaelin Jackson earned a walk off Hawk starter Kelsey Bird, Toni Santonastasso was struck by a pitch to make it a 2-0 ball game. The Hawks did get out of the inning without any more damage, though, as they retired the next three batters to keep it a two-run game.         

Hartford halved its deficit in the top of the second as the Hawks loaded up the bases with two outs and worked a walk off of Puccio. After senior Margaret Betz led off the frame with a double, and DeMarco followed suit with a base-hit, Fried and Ferguson followed a ground-out up with back-to-back walks to bring in the Hawks' first run of the afternoon and close the gap to one at 2-1.

But UMBC continued to keep the offense going and quickly pushed its lead back to two thanks to a sacrifice fly off the barrel of Hall in the home half of the second. The home team's offense would continue to strike as the lead extended to 6-1 before the end of the third before UMBC ended the game by loading up the bases in the bottom of the fifth and plating three consecutive runs on a walk and two struck batters.

Bird dropped to 1-4 with the loss while Puccio shifts to 2-3 on the year.