Saint Mary's aims for important wins
Katie McVoy
Associate Sports Editor
The Saint Mary's softball team is hoping that April showers will bring two MIAA wins to add to Saturday's rainy day victory over Adrian College.
The Belles (9-8) are coming off of a weekend split with the Bulldogs that left them with a 1-1 MIAA record. They look for another win today as they face off against Albion College in a double-header.
"We played really well on Saturday despite the fact that we split. We want to keep that up," senior pitcher Anne Senger said. "If we can win a bunch of these [early season] games before we play Hope and Alma, which are the power houses, then we'll be in good shape."
If the Belles come home from both games victorious, they will carry a 3-1 MIAA record that should place them near the top of rankings littered with teams that have faced little or no MIAA competition.
Albion (13-9), who finished third in the MIAA last year with an 8-6 record, opens their MIAA season against Saint Mary's.
Junior Kristin Martin will be on the mound for the Belles at 3 p.m., looking for her first MIAA victory of the season. She gave up three earned runs in her first MIAA start on Saturday against Adrian.
Senger will take the mound in the nightcap of the double header. Senger enters the game with a strong 1.16 ERA after giving up only one run during her six innings of work on Saturday.
Martin and Senger will have to shut down a strong Albion hitting team, led by Sarah Prues. The junior outfielder is batting .375 with 12 RBIs. Her 18-48 record includes five doubles and two triples. Joining Prues on the Briton offensive will be seniors Treasa Gourlay, who is leads the Britons in batting average at .386, and Darcy Stewart, who has hit seven doubles thus far.
"[Albion] has always been pretty decent," Senger said. "Defensively they aren't anything special, but they're usually pretty decent hitters so we need to be tough defensively."
During Saturday's early loss to Adrian, the Belles gave up six runs during the third inning. They will be working on staying fo-cused to prevent an inning like that today.
"We need to play every single pitch and know exactly what we're doing every single time the bat hits the ball," Senger said. "We need to communicate on and off the field and not get down on ourselves when we make mistakes."
Saint Mary's hitters will likely be facing off against Adrian's star pitcher, Alana Heikkinen. Heikkinen, who has only lost three games in 14 decisions, sports an ERA of 1.41.
She earned a win in a game against Blufton College this weekend, but dropped her second game of the double header, bringing her record to 11-3.
Following a strong hitting weekend, the Belles are confident that their sluggers can get the job done.
"We hit exceptionally well so we want to be as strong as we possibly can," Senger said.
The first game of the double headers starts at 3 p.m. on the softball field. The second game will begin around 6 p.m. — 15 minutes after the end of the first game.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, April 4, 2001
