NEWPORT, R.I. - The Curry College Softball team split a CCC doubleheader with Salve Regina on Sunday afternoon in Newport, R.I. The Seahawks won the opener 4-0 before the Colonels (18-12; 8-4 CCC) received a gem from their second-game starter, McKenna Barlow (Middletown, R.I.), and defeated Salve Regina (14-14; 11-3 CCC) 2-1 in the nightcap.
Freshman designated hitter Nikki Bukovsky (Westport, Conn.) earned her third-straight start in the lineup and responded with a three-for-three performance at the plate in game one. She scored one run and also had a stolen base.
Senior leftfielder Sara Nelson (Bristol, Conn.) drove in the first run of the afternoon with a single to right field, plating catcher Genevieve Benoit (Swampscott, Mass.). After freshman Kara O'Riley (Acton, Mass.) doubled with one out in the fourth, Nelson singled again to put runners at the corners. Freshman Lauren Fountain (Cheshire, Conn.) and senior Marissa Simpson (Brimfield, Conn.) had successive RBI singles to pad the lead to 3-0.
O'Riley added an RBI single in the fifth inning that scored Bukovsky.
Salve Regina starting pitcher Nicole Parry (Quincy, Mass.) struck out eight Colonels and scattered five hits to record her fourth complete-game shutout of the season. The sophomore righthander had 1-2-3 innings in the first, second, and fifth frames. Twice Parry stranded a pair of Colonels runners on base.
Curry had its first two batters in the sixth - Megan Flaherty (Medway, Mass.) and Amy Nolan (Norfolk, Mass.) - reach on bunt singles. Parry fielded a comebacker and forced an out at third before inducing back-to-back popups to senior second baseman Jenna Edine (Warwick, R.I.).
Kelly Duggan (Norwood, Mass.) was the hitting star in a well-pitched game two. While Barlow allowed just the one run - a first-inning leadoff walk to Lexi Soucie (No. Easton, Mass.) came around on Benoit's ground rule double to right center - Duggan tied the score with her first collegiate homerun in the top of the second.
Duggan had a two-out single up the middle that scored Ariel LaRosa (Saugus, Mass.) with the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Salve Regina rightfielder Katie Napier (Medford, Mass.) led off the Seahawk fifth frame with a slap bunt in front of the catcher and moved to second on a ground out. With the lefty Bukovsky at the plate squaring to bunt, infielders drew in and Napier stole third. Bukovsky placed the next Barlow pitch down to LaRosa at third and she fired to first for out number two before Abigail Macomber (Milton, Mass.) threw a strike to catcher Heather Carrier (Scarborough, Maine) to catch Napier at the plate.
Barlow retired the final eight Seahawks she faced after Napier's bunt single in the fifth.
Salve Regina plays at Roger Williams on Wednesday before completing its regular-season conference schedule against Endicott the following Monday. Curry hosts Wentworth on Wednesday.
