NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The softball regular season came to a close Saturday afternoon as the seventh-ranked Captains of Christopher Newport dropped both ends of a doubleheader at Salisbury University. The Sea Gulls, top-ranked in the country, won the opener by an 8-4 margin, and then shut out the Captains the nightcap, 2-0, at Sea Gull Softball Stadium in Salisbury, Md.

Keith Parr's squad is now 24-8, while SU improved to 36-2. The pair of victories pushed Salisbury's winning streak to 14 games.

The Sea Gulls jumped to a 4-0 lead in the opening game before the Captains finally got to Salisbury starter Lindsey Windsor. CNU scored twice in the fifth inning when sophomore first baseman Meredith Brickner registered an RBI single, bringing home junior Caroline Pollock, to cut the lead to 4-1. The Captains added another run when junior third baseman Brooke Greaver walked with the bases loaded to plate senior Bianca Palmer-Scott to make it 4-2.

The comeback was short-lived, as the Sea Gulls answered with four more runs in the bottom of the fifth to essentially put the game away. SU senior Abby Mace crushed a three-run home run in the big fifth inning after smacking a solo shot to open the game in the first frame. Windsor earned the victory in the pitching circle to improve to 12-0, and also clubbed a two-run home run in the fourth inning for the Gulls. The Captains made it a bit closer in the seventh, scoring twice to account for the 8-4 final. Greaver knocked home junior Jules Donnelly with an RBI single, and sophomore Sammy Drew came home thanks to a Salisbury error for the final run of the game. CNU starter Kate Alger took the loss to fall to 12-4 after allowing four earned runs over the first four innings.

In the nightcap, sophomore left-hander Jamie Martin allowed two runs in the opening inning that proved to be the only runs of the game in a 2-0 Sea Gulls victory. Martin recovered from the tough start to strike out nine over six innings, but got no run support as the Captains were held to just two hits. Savannah Sheets went the distance for the Gulls, throwing the two-hit shutout to improve to 10-0. Martin fell to 8-3 with the loss.

Christopher Newport will return to Salisbury, Md., for the 2023 Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The action is scheduled to begin this Thursday, May 11th, and continue through Saturday, May 13th.