Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. (March 11, 2016)-The Morgan State softball team returned to action on Friday, as it competed in the UMBC Dawg Pound Invitational, hosted by the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The Lady Bears would drop the first contest to the host Retrievers by a score of 4-1, before defeating Mount St. Mary's, 6-1 to conclude Day 1. The win over Mount St. Mary's ended a season-long seven-game losing skid.
 
In the opening game, the Lady Bears took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Korynna Lara singled to left field to score Damali Young.
 
The lead would be short lived, as Carly Lesko would homer in the bottom of the first inning, scoring Bridget O'Malley to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.
 
UMBC (8-12) would increase the lead to 3-1 on a home run to left field hit by Danielle O'Neill to start the bottom of the second inning.
 
The Retrievers would add their final run of the game in the third inning, when Kaelin Jackson flied out to left to score O'Malley for the 4-1 victory.
 
Morgan State (3-13) was led by Young and Lara, who both went 2-for-3 at the plate. Allison Hartman, who was charged with the loss, surrendered four runs on four hits and had two strikeouts.
 
UMBC was led by O'Neill, who went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI and Jordan Sganga, who was 2-for-3 at the plate. Lesko finished 1-for-2 with a game-high 2RBI and a run and a walk. Kim Puccio picked up the win, going seven innings and allowing one run on eight hits and threw five strikeouts.
 
The Lady Bears will close out the tournament with two more games on Saturday. Morgan State will first take on Marist at 10:30 a.m. and will conclude with a rematch game against UMBC at 12:45 p.m. Both games will be played at the UMBC Softball Stadium on the UMBC campus.