Greensboro, N.C.- Defending America East Player of the Week Kaelin Jackson (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional) had her fourth consecutive multi-hit game, while Jaclyn Buckley (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Camden Regional) and Morgan Peyou (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) drove in two runs each, as the UMBC Softball team (2-3) rallied for a 12-6 victory over Howard (0-1) in the first game of the North Carolina A&T Aggie Invitational.

Nicole Casagrand (Melbourne, Fla./Hatboro-Horsham) pitched 6.1 innings of relief to move to 2-0 on the season. The senior lefty allowed just two runs, both earned, on five hits, while striking out three and walking two. At the plate, Casagrand picked up her first career RBI and walked twice.

After spotting the Lady Bison four runs in the top of the first, the Retrievers would runoff 11 consecutive runs over the next four innings. A throwing error by the catcher would score Peyou and then Buckley would get an RBI single cut the deficit to 4-2 after one inning. Peyou would tie things up in the second with a two-RBI triple, and UMBC would take the lead in the third when Jackson scored on a wild pitch and Kinsey Shifflett (Smithsburg,Md./Smithsburg) would plate Buckley on a sacrifice fly.

The Retrievers would bust the game open in the fourth with five runs. Tori Alexander (Woodbridge,Va./Woodbridge Senior) leadoff with a single and would eventually score on a passed ball. Jackson scored on an illegal pitch, followed by RBI groundouts from Casagrand and Shifflett. Toni Santonastasso (Canonsburg, Pa./Pope John XXIII Regional) would also score on an illegal pitch to give UMBC an 11-4 lead after four innings.

Howard would get a run back in the top of the fifth, but the Retrievers would once again immediately respond. Maddie Daigneau (New River, Ariz. / Boulder Creek) would smack a triple to left field for her first career hit, and then scored on a Mallory Pollack (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock North) RBI groundout.

Kelly Lane (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) tallied two hits and Jenna Stupey (Edmonds, Wash. / Kamiak) added a pinch hit single of her own. .

UMBC returns to action tomorrow morning with back-to-back games against Appalachian State and Valparaiso, beginning at 9 a.m.