Following their Saturday game against UMass, the Falcon softball team honored their senior class.
Seven graduating players were recognized after the conclusion of the rubber match, including Ashley Chevalier, Delaney Davis, Hannah Hunt, Katie Hutter, Mackenzie Krafcik, Kendall Mathews, and Alyvia Roth.
Despite a 2-1 loss in the game, spirits remained high at Meserve Field, as the day carried far more weight for the program than the result of the game.
“I walked into a bad siutation, and was charged with trying to make it better, and it started with these seniors, and them buying in from the beginning,” said head softball coach Michelle Gardner. “They put in the time, they put in the effort, they bought in, and whether the result was a win, lose, or draw, they’re in it for the right reasons.”
Out of the seven seniors honored, all seven returned from the 2025 squad that improved 10 wins from the prior year, and all but Mathews were on the 2024 team that only won 6 games prior to Gardner’s arrival.
“This senior group has been through a ton, and I just love them all so much,” Chevalier said. “I’m so proud of all of them, and the support from the rest of the team has been amazing.”
Despite struggling in conference play this year, the team hasn’t lost sight of their focus on improvement.
“We have five games left, and that’s five opportunities to win games,” said Gardner. “We just need to come out and compete. I’m hoping to get my seniors more time on the field in front of people, and we also just need to win games.”
Regardless of the on-field outcome, the impact of the fans at Meserve Field was evident.
“There were so many people here today, and it was awesome,” said Chevalier. “I’m bummed we couldn’t get a win for the fans here, but it really means the world to us.”
Even though the Falcons aren’t in contention for post-season play, the team has a definition for success that goes beyond the wins and losses.
“We’ve had, I think, seven or so MAC losses come by one run, and [looking] back to three years ago when I was a freshman, we weren’t even competing in most of those games,” said Chevalier. “I think [we] just have a really big mindset of [being] a part of the culture change of this program, and even if we couldn’t get the wins that we want, leaving the program better than we found it is important.”
The graduating seniors have five games left in the Orange and Brown, with their last non-conference series of the year coming up next Tuesday against the Oakland Grizzlies.
