Rhode Island will begin a busy stretch of eight games over eight days, starting with a doubleheader against UMass Lowell on April 7 at the URI Softball Complex.
The upcoming schedule includes six home games this week for the Rams. After facing UMass Lowell in two games on Tuesday, Rhode Island will play Bryant in a single game on Wednesday. The weekend features a three-game series against Loyola Chicago, followed by another doubleheader next Tuesday against New Haven.
In their history with UMass Lowell, Rhode Island trails the all-time series 5-3. This will be the first meeting between the teams since 2017, with all previous matchups taking place from 2014 to 2017. Rhode Island has won once and lost three times when hosting UMass Lowell. Notably, “UMass Lowell Director of Athletics Lynn Coutts and Rhode Island softball head coach Mike Coutts are married.” The River Hawks’ most recent opponent was Bryant.
Against Bryant, Rhode Island leads the series 15-2 and has won each of the last three meetings. This is the fourth straight season that both teams have played each other in a single game matchup. Last season saw Bryant qualify for the America East Championship for the first time under head coach Bianka Bell.
Senior captain Kylie Bulinski recently hit her third home run of this season during Saturday’s loss to Dayton, bringing her career total to thirteen—tied for ninth in program history along with Kellie Cookus (1996-98), Paige Julich (2015-18), and Erica Robles (2017-21). Bulinski currently has sixty-nine career runs batted in and needs seven more to reach Rhode Island’s top ten list for that category as well.
The Rams’ current stretch provides opportunities for players like Bryce Clendenin, Alissa West, Gabriella Gesualdo, and Teagan Thompson—who together have combined for nine home runs, fifty-one runs batted in, and thirty-nine runs scored—to contribute further as they continue their homestand.
