Melissa Morgan goes 2-for-3 in game one with a double and home run

LOWELL, Mass. (March 30, 2013) -- The Franklin Pierce University softball team dropped a pair of games to UMass-Lowell on Saturday afternoon at River View Field in Lowell, Mass. The Ravens fell, 9-1, in game one, and then dropped a 6-2 decision in game two. Franklin Pierce fell to 2-8 (0-3 Northeast-10, 0-3 Northeast Division), while the River Hawks improved to 9-13.

The Ravens hung tough with Lowell through the first four-and-a-half innings of game one and trailed just 2-1 going into the bottom of the fifth after freshman Melissa Morgan (Clifton Park, N.Y.) had smacked a solo home run in the previous inning.

Lowell, though, broke the game open in the fifth and sixth to pull away for the victory. The River Hawks pushed two runs across in the fifth on RBI singles from Ariana Darcy and Kathryn Donovan, and then exploded for five runs in the sixth. Ally Greene, who went 3-for-4 in the game, brought home three runs with a double to right field, and came home to score a batter later on Darcy's RBI triple. Darcy came in to score on Ali Ferraro's base hit which capped the scoring in the game.

Freshman hurler Tricia Hansen (Mansfield, Mass.) got the start in the circle for the Ravens and was tagged with the loss to fall to 0-4 after she went 4.2 innings, yielding four runs on 10 hits. Marielle Handley got the win for Lowell and improved to 5-9 by going the distance and allowing just one run on six hits with five strikeouts.

Morgan went 2-for-3 in the game and had a double in addition to her homer. Hansen stroked a pair of hits to aid in the Ravens' offensive attack.

UMass-Lowell jumped out fast in the first inning of game two, scoring three times, including getting a two-run single from Danielle Crutcher. Franklin Pierce got a run back in the top of the third as senior Megan Bird (Laconia, N.H.) led off the inning by reaching base on an error and eventually coming around to score on a base hit to left from Hansen. 

The River Hawks scored twice in the fourth and one more time in the fifth to put the game out reach. Bird singled home a run for the Ravens in the sixth, but it wasn't enough to spark a comeback for Franklin Pierce.

Senior Rachel Allen (Hull, Mass.) started in the circle for the Ravens, but was saddled with the loss to fall to 2-2 after giving up five runs on six hits with three walks over 4.0 innings of work. Courtney Lanfranchi picked up the win for Lowell by yielding just one earned run on four hits while going the distance over 7.0 innings.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Tuesday when the Ravens travel to Manchester to take on Saint Anselm in a single game beginning at 4 p.m.

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(.)