Courtney Caputo went 1-for-3 with a run scored in game two

LOWELL, Mass. (March 29, 2013) -- The Franklin Pierce University softball team fought off more than a month's worth of weather delays and finally returned to the diamond on Friday, but the return did not turn out well as the Ravens were swept in a doubleheader at UMass-Lowell. The Ravens dropped game one, 7-1, and then fell, 4-2, in game two. Franklin Pierce dipped to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the Northeast-10, while Lowell improved to 7-13 and 2-0 in league play.

The Ravens battled hard in game two and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning off freshman Sam Conners' (Jackson, N.J.) single to right field, which plated classmate Courtney Caputo (Stony Brook, N.Y.) on the play. Caputo, who was 1-for-3 in the game with that run scored, had reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the frame.

Freshman pitcher Tricia Hansen (Mansfield, Mass.) went to work in the pitching circle for the Ravens and made the one-run lead stand up over the first five innings by scattering five hits over that time. She set down the River Hawks in order in the bottom of the first, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the third when Brianna Martin tripled to right field to lead off the frame. Krista MacKenzie helped out the Ravens during the next at-bat by being called out on batter's interference and that out settled down Hansen, who induced Ally Greene to bounce into an inning ending double-play by grounding out back to the pitcher.

UMass-Lowell, though, was finally able to solve Hansen in the sixth by scoring four times, highlighted by a three-run homer from Ali Ferraro. Brianna Mahoney extended the inning two batters later with a double and Hailey Terrien followed by driving her in with an RBI single to left field.

The Ravens tried to fight back in the seventh and a lead-off solo home run from senior Jessica Furtado (Taunton, Mass.) cut the deficit to two. However, the Ravens were set down the rest of the frame and could not pull off their own comeback.

Hansen suffered the loss to fall to 0-3 after yielding four runs (three earned) on 10 hits with three strikeouts and zero walks. Terrien got the win in the circle and Marielle Handley earned the save by pitching the seventh. Handley had started the game for Lowell in the circle and pitched the first three innings before coming back on in relief in the seventh. 

Game one was all River Hawks as they scored three times in the first and a run each in the second and third innings to blow the game open. The Ravens got their only run of the game in the fifth when Caitlin Murphy (Braintree, Mass.) scored on a Lowell fielding error. Ferraro parked another homer in the first game to highlight Lowell's offensive attack.

Senior pitcher Rachel Allen (Hull, Mass.) got the start in the pitching circle and was tagged with the loss after going 3.0 innings and yielding three earned runs on four hits and a trio of walks. Handley went the distance for Lowell to earn the win as she struck out six and gave up just one hit.

Franklin Pierce and Lowell will meet in another doubleheader on Saturday, which will also be held in Massachusetts. The first game of the doubleheader will begin at 12 p.m. and will be an NE-10 conference contest. The second game will begin at approximately 2 p.m. and will be a non-conference tilt.

For more information on Franklin Pierce softball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce softball apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)