Baltimore, Md.-- Freshman left fielder Morgan Peyou (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) hit a tie-breaking two-out single in the bottom of the fifth as the UMBC Softball team took game one of a critical America East series, 2-1, over UMass Lowell on Saturday. The River Hawks would fight back and take the second game, 4-2, to earn the split and setup a rubber match on Sunday at noon. The victory in game one was UMBC's 23rd of the year, surpassing last season's win total of 22. 

Game 1

UMBC (23-27, 4-9) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first after sophomore Tori Alexander (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge Senior) leadoff with a single, moved over on a Peyou sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out double off the bat of Kaelin Jackson (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional). UMass Lowell (11-39, 3-14) would tie the game at one in the fourth on a sacrfice fly, but the Retrievers answered in the fifth when Peyou's single to center scored senior catcher Jordan Sganga (Edgewater, Md./South River) and put UMBC up 2-1. 

Pitcher Jessica Holte (Ashland, Va./Atlee) kept the River Hawks off the board in the final two inning to pick up the complete game victory. The lefty improves to 12-11 on the season, and moves into sole possesion of third place on the UMBC all-time wins list (44). The junior allowed just the one earned run on four hits, while striking out three and walking none.

Game 2

UMass Lowell took an immediate 1-0 lead on a leadoff homer in the first, and would add three more in the second to go up 4-0. UMBC would halve the deficit when sophomore first baseman Carly Lesko (New Milford, N.J./New Milford) drove in two with a double in the bottom of the sixth, but that would be it for scoring in the game as UMBC fell, 4-2.

Kim Puccio (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) took the loss, falling to 7-4 on the year. The sophomore pitcher allowed the four runs, all earned, on nine hits and one walk in seven innings. 

The teams will conclude the series tomorrow at noon. UMBC will honor its seniors in a ceremony prior to first pitch.