BALTIMORE – Strong pitching and timely hitting propelled the Purple Eagles to victories over the Rhode Island Rams and the UMBC Retrievers on Saturday in the UMBC Dawg Pound Invitational.

"The girls overcame much adversity and played as a team," head coach Larry Puzan said. "Everyone contributed on the field today and displayed great resiliency." 

Rhode Island 1, Niagara 2
Kim Bryson's complete game and freshman Theresa Fleckenstein's first career home run helped Niagara (6-8) edge the Rhode Island Rams, 2-1, in the Purple Eagles' first game at the invitational.

Bryon (1-4) collected her first win of the season after striking out four and allowing only three hits and one run in seven innings.

A NU error in the fourth inning broke the scoreless game as the Rams (4-13) took a 1-0 lead. The Purple Eagles, though, tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Ambur Farmer, who leads the team in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, singled to score Rachel Ziarnowski for her sixth RBI of the season.

After two scoreless innings, Fleckenstein led off the sixth inning with a homer to left field to give NU a 2-1 lead.  Bryson then retired the Rams in order to end the game.

Niagara 5, UMBC 3
The Purple Eagles used a three-run sixth inning to hold off the host UMBC, 5-3, in their second game of the day.

Brittany Richberg opened the game with a triple to left field and later scored when Amanda Werth grounded out to second base as NU took an early 1-0 lead. After the Retrievers tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning, the Purple Eagles went back in front on a RBI ground out by Richberg.

UMBC (16-6) jumped ahead after scoring two runs in the fifth inning. Trailing 3-2, Niagara reeled off three runs in the sixth inning. With two runners on base, pinch hitter Ally Gay singled through the left side to empty the bases. Two batters later,  Ziamowski singled to left field to score Gay as NU led 5-3.

Jennifer Sansano (4-1) held the Terriers hitless in the next two innings including striking out the final batter in the game to wrap up the complete game win. 

The Purple Eagles will face Drexel at 9:30 a.m. and Hampton at Noon on Sunday to conclude play at the invitational.