BY TYLER MILLIKEN // APRIL 25, 2017 //

After being rained out over the weekend, the Colonels finally got the opportunity to honor their three seniors against the Salve Regina Seahawks at the D. Forbes Will Field.

It was the last chance for the three graduating members of the Curry Community to play the game of softball with a chance at a playoff berth on the line.

The three Colonel seniors from three different states. Marissa Bruno (left) of Milford, Conn., Mikayla Korona (center) from Bellingham, Mass., and McKenna Barlow (right) from Middletown, R.I. // PHOTO COURTESY OF CURRY COLLEGE ATHLETICS

It was of course a senior who got the starting nod for the Colonels and McKenna Barlow, of Middletown, R.I., took the circle for her fifth start of the season. However, the results were not exactly what she had hoped for.

The Seahawks’ ability to consistently make contact tormented Barlow, as she only picked up a single strikeout during the afternoon.

Curry’s offense failed to make any noise in the first game, as Salve Regina’s Kelsey Boarman dazzled in a complete-game shutout. Boarman allowed only one hit, while striking out and walking a single batter each.

The Seahawks pushed runs across in four different innings, with the help of some solid base running and steadily putting the ball in play. The Colonels seemed to be chasing hits all day, while Barlow battled to work through each inning. She did finish the entire game but not before surrendering six runs (four earned) on 13 hits.

The 6-0 final dropped Curry to 15-20 overall and 7-10 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. That was a good enough mark to be hanging around sixth place, the final spot in the playoffs.

Once game two rolled around, junior Rebecca Black entered the circle for the Colonels, with the hope of ending the team’s four-game losing streak.

Despite a tough start to begin the day, Curry started the second game with some punch at the plate. In her final game on Forbes Field, Marissa Bruno added to her legacy by launching a solo home run to center field to start the bottom of the first. The captain rounded the bases only to be mobbed by her teammates at home.

However, the Seahawks formulated a response right away and pushed three runs across to steal the lead the Colonels just got. Salve added two more in the fourth and Curry could only get one more run across before seven innings were played.

Black got tagged with the loss in her 11^th start to drop her record to 5-6 while giving up five earned runs on nine hits in her seventh complete game.

The Seahawks handed the Colonels a sweep to end their season on a five-game losing streak to cement their regular season record at 15-21 overall and 7-11 in the CCC.

At the end of the day Curry found itself in a tie with Gordon College for the sixth and final playoff spot in the CCC Tournament. The Fighting Scots traveled to Nichols College yesterday and earned a split to finish their season at 14-20 overall and an identical 7-11 in the CCC.

The one extra non-conference victory for the Purple and White nudged their overall winning percentage to .417, ahead of Gordon’s .412 to sit at the #6 seed.

However, that was still to be determined by the time the final out was recorded and there was a lingering cloud of emotion after the game.

“I’m trying not to cry right now,” Barlow explained, thinking about the end of her Curry career. “It’s tough, I had to put up a fight to get back on the team and everything…it’s crazy to think I was a freshman just four years ago.”

Despite the season ending on such a tough note, co-captain Mikayla Korona was optimistic about what the future holds after softball.

“In everybody’s life your athletics end, and my post-career will start soon,” the Bellingham-native remarked. “I’ve had a good career all in all from when I was little, to now. In my eyes I thought we fought till the end, but one team has to win at the end of the day, and it wasn’t us.”

At the end of the day’s celebrations, Head Coach Bruce Weckworth helped breakdown just what his seniors meant to him over the years.

“It’s devastating for us,” Weckworth put simply. “They’ve grown as young women from where they were as freshman to where they are today. This group…I wish I could coach them forever.”

The final games of the Commonwealth Coast Conference schedule consist of Wentworth traveling to Nichols which was scheduled for today, but rain has postponed it.

The CCC Tournament is scheduled to begin on April 28, and the Colonels will be waiting patiently for the final seedings.