On an absolutely miserable, dreary day with temperatures barely above freezing, the UMB women’s softball team failed to raise the spirits or warm the hearts of its fans, dropping both games of a doubleheader against the Eastern Connecticut State Warriors by scores of 9-4 and 9-2 in their first Little East conference match-up of the season.

The first game had a fairly auspicious start when, in the bottom of the third inning, a pair of two-out hits by shortstop Jenn Murray and pitcher Stephanie Poulos drove in two runs to put the Beacons up 3-1. This lead, however, was short-lived as ECSU scored seven runs over the next two innings.

In the top of the fourth, the Warriors went up for good, scoring three runs with the big hit being a two-run, two-out, bases-loaded double by senior Kelly Rowan. In the fifth ECSU played small ball to plate four more on four consecutive singles, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly, and a bunt single before the inning ended with a pair of fly outs. After the middle inning onslaught, the Beacons could only push across one more run for the remainder of the game in the bottom of the fifth.

The second game had a less promising start for the Beacons. In the bottom of the first inning ECSU freshman Karen Taber hit a two-run triple and shortly afterwards scored on a wild pitch by Siobhan Lynch. The Beacons were shut out until the fourth inning, which opened with a leadoff triple by Murray, who scored when the next batter, Andrea Ciarletta, reached on a fielding error by ECSU’s second baseman. This was followed by two singles by Lynch and one bunt by Jessie Baird. Unfortunately, the threat fizzled when Catie O’Reilly grounded into a force play that cut down Lynch at the plate, and Chris Allen popped to third. The only other run the Beacons could come up with for the remainder of the inning, and the game, came when Carla Collins walked with the bases loaded to plate Baird.

Despite their bats being as cold as the weather, however, the second half of the doubleheader remained within reach for the Beacons until the bottom of the sixth when, after four singles, with a pop out mixed in, the score became 5-2 in ECSU’s favor. Taber struck again, this time launching a grand slam over the left field fence to nail the coffin lid shut on UMB and drop the Lady Beacons’ record to an unattractive 1-10.