BALTIMORE – UMBC softball launched three home runs in a 6-1 victory against Hampton in the final game of the 10th annual UMBC Dawg Pound Invitational at the UMBC Softball Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Retrievers' head coach Joe French earned his 800th career coaching victory with the win.

The Retrievers took three-of-four on the weekend to improve to 17-6 on the year, French's second best start to a season during his tenure with the Retrievers, behind only the 2006 season. Hampton falls to 9-12.

UMBC jumped out in front 1-0 in the bottom of the first with a two-out solo home run to left center from junior Taylor Hall (Cosby, Va./Cosby). The round tripper was the 19th of her career, moving her into a tie for ninth with Stevie Shore ('06) on UMBC's career home run list.

The Retrievers posted back-to-back singles from Hall and senior Chelsea Bertoglio (Laguna Hills, Calif./Laguna Hills/Saddleback College) in the bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman Jaclyn Buckley (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Camden Regional) launched her second home run of the season with two outs to extend UMBC's advantage to 4-0.

The Retrievers used their third long ball of the day to add two more runs to their advantage in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Kelly Lane (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) led off the inning with a single and pinch hitter Megan Sauble (Glen Burnie, Md./CCBC-Catonsville) drilled her second blast of the year over the fence in right center.

Hampton posted three hits in the first six innings of the contest, but were able to string together three hits and a fielder's choice in the final frame to score its only run of the contest against starting pitcher Jessica Holte (Ashland, Va./Atlee). Holtee struck out a season-best seven batters en route to her 11th victory of the season, becoming the fastest Retriever in program history to reach 11 collegiate victories. She is now tied for seventh with Melanie Scharf ('94) on UMBC's freshman wins list.

The black and gold score six runs on seven hits versus Hampton's pitcher Jecholia Pratt.

The Retrievers return to action on Friday, March 21 for the first day of the UMBC Spring Classic at the UMBC Softball Stadium.

Dawg Bites
-Head coach Joe French has been a head coach in softball, women's basketball and tennis during his 24 year career. French continues his quest for his 600th victory at the helm of UMBC, he currently sits at 588.