Cayla Tulley hit a game winning and go ahead three-run homerun in the third inning on Wednesday afternoon, as the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks spoiled the home softball opener for the Maine Black Bears with a 7-2 victory at Kessock Field in Orono. The second game of the doubleheader was rescheduled to be played April 27th in Lowell due to impeding rain.
Tulley had an RBI triple in the first inning to put UMass-Lowell up 1-0 early. Maine evened the score on a double from Izzy Nieblas in the second. In the third, Elizabeth Frederick led off with a single for the Riverhawks. Tori Mueller then grounded out, and Olivia Labbe walked. Becca Vaillancourt then reached on a fielders choice, and Tulley then smashed the three-run shot over the fence in right field that made the difference in the game. The Black Bears got their other RBI from Keely Clark with an infield hit in the seventh inning, as they fall to 5-27 overall and 1-4 in conference play.
Emily Reid (2-8) took the loss in the circle for Maine allowing five runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 3.1 innings. No Black Bear hitters had more than one hit. Tulley led the way for UML with two hits and four RBI. Vaillancourt and Frederick also had two hits a piece. Ryley White (14-3) would allow just one earned run on six hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in the complete 7.0 inning effort to get the pitching win. The Riverhawks improve to 20-12, 5-1 in America East. Maine is back in action at home this weekend when they welcome in UMBC for a three game series beginning with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. Saturday.
