BY TYLER MILLIKEN and STEVEN SOUSA // APRIL 9, 2017 //

Inconsistency at the plate not only left Curry trailing most of the day but it also left plenty of runners on base as the Colonels fell in both games of a conference doubleheader to Roger Williams.

Junior Mikayla Lambert got the nod to start the day for the Colonels, and the results were not exactly ideal. She did go the distance and registered her eighth complete game to rank second in the Commonwealth Coast Conference nor did she allow an earned run.

Her teammates provided her support right out of the gates and pushed across two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Kevi Oatway drew a walk with the bases loaded to break the tie before classmate Rachel Byrd lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

Despite falling behind early, the Hawks were able to respond right away in the second inning and took advantage of some defensive miscues. Colonel shortstop Jessica Saluti committed a throwing error and allowed two runs to score unearned to tie the game.

Curry went silent until the seventh inning, as the team attempted to earn their fourth walk-off win of the season with the game tied entering the final regulation inning. The Colonels strung two hits and a walk together to load the bases and Lambert came up to help her own cause.

However, she was not able to get it done and instead grounded out to send the game to extras innings, but maybe not for long.

Failing to come through in the seventh ended up being the demise for Curry. Another error plagued the Colonels and right fielder Molly Horn opened the gates for four runs to eventually come in, again unearned to Lambert.

Juliet Hulme secured the victory in the bottom of the eighth for the Hawks, by stalling Curry’s comeback attempt at one run.

At the end of the doubleheader, head coach Bruce Weckworth stated after the games that it probably could have ended before the fans saw free softball.

“Today, that first game, we had it. It shouldn’t have even come down to the late innings,” Weckworth noted. “It’s all about finishing, and putting people in the right spot late in games.”

The Colonels fell to Roger Williams by a 6-3 margin, before entering the second matchup of the day. With their work cut out for them, junior Jordan Lizotte took the circle for Curry in game two but she quickly found herself in trouble.

The Hawks wasted no time stringing together hits for themselves and Julianna Vesce and Mikaela Grosso provided the RBI’s putting the Colonels in an early 2-0 hole.

“I don’t think they reacted as well as they could have,” coach Weckworth noted after the game. “Some games we get down early and we answer right back…today they punched and we didn’t punch back.”

Roger Williams tacked on another run in the top of the third when Vesce drove in her second RBI of the game to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead.

It all seemed to be paying off for Roger Williams as they clearly had more energy from the first pitch on and were never quiet on the diamond. The lone exception for their opposition was Colonel centerfield and co-captain Mikayla Korona.

“I feel as though we could have had more energy, and that fire in our bellies to really succeed in the second game,” remarked Korona.

After conceding two more runs in the fourth inning, Curry responded with two of their own in the bottom of the fifth when Lambert lifted a sacrifice fly and Oatway ripped an RBI single.

McKenna Barlow came in and pitched two innings of relief for the Colonels but the Hawk bats continued to be too much. She gave up four runs in the top of the sixth inning although only two were earned.

In the bottom of the seventh, it appeared that the Colonels were starting to put something together and had the bases loaded. However, Saluti got jammed and popped out to end the game, continuing the theme of leaving runners on base.

Curry now finds itself 4-4 in conference play, while the Hawks improve to 7-1 in that category. The Colonels get right back up on that horse and host Western New England for another conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. this Sunday afternoon.

• It was a brisk day down at the D. Forbes Will Athletic Complex. According to the National Weather Service, it was 47 degrees at first pitch but felt like 32 degrees because of the 20 MPH winds.
• According to Weckworth, Curry was missing two juniors for today’s games: Morgan Bogardus who was hit in the chin by a ball in pregame warmups and is now in the concussion protocol, and Carolyn Lynch who is currently serving her guard week as she is a United States Marine.
• This afternoon’s doubleheader marks their fifth and sixth games in three days.