SOFTBALL:Saint Mary's to face Alma College
By MOLLY McVOY
Senior Staff Writer
The Saint Mary's softball team faces a tough weekend of league match-ups, and are in serious need of MIAA wins.
Saint Mary's will face Alma College on Saturday afternoon and will play the rescheduled game against Calvin College on Monday. The Belles hope wins against these two league opponents can turn around their 1-5 league record.
"Conference games are really key for us," said John Kovach, the Belles head coach.
Alma, now ranked eighth nationally, will be a tough contest for the Belles. Last season, Alma took both games they played against the Belles, 12-2 and 12-3. Kovach is looking for his experienced starters, senior co-captain Anne Senger, and junior Kristin Martin to keep the team in the game.
"If our pitching is like it has been most of the season, they'll keep us in the game," Kovach said. "It'll be up to us to put something together offensively. Anne and Kristin will be starting because we want to throw the experience against them."
Senger and Martin have ERAs of 2.80 and 4.30 respectively. They will start the doubleheader with freshman Libby Wilhelmy (1.00 ERA in seven innings pitched) in the bullpen if necessary. They face an Alma team that has an ERA of 2.70, a 7-1 league record and a 23-8 record overall.
" [Alma's] pitching is pretty strong," Kovach said. "Their pitchers don't have tremendous strike out totals, but they also don't give up a lot of walks. They seem to always keep the ball around the plate."
The key for the Belles, according to Kovach, will be to put several hits together and score some runs. The Belles' hitting has been streaky this season, and the team has to play close to perfect to upset Alma.
"We have to go into a game like this with good hitting, good pitching and no mistakes on the field," Kovach said.
The Belles will then take on Calvin at home on Monday. Calvin is currently 2-4 in MIAA and ranked two places ahead of the seventh place Belles. Last season, Saint Mary's and Calvin split the double-header with Calvin winning the first contest 5-4 and Saint Mary's taking the second 7-4. Kovach expects an even match-up on Monday.
"We stack up very well against Calvin," he said. "Between Calvin and Alma, we'll probably hit a little more strongly against Calvin. We'll put a few runs on the board against them."
Calvin's pitching has posted a team ERA of 5.66 this season, and a record of 7-10 overall. They are batting .282 in comparison with Saint Mary's average of .272 at the plate.
The starters for the Calvin game are undecided as of yet. The decision will depend on the number of innings Senger and Martin pitch against Alma and how well those innings go.
"The starters will depend a lot on how pitching fairs on Saturday," Kovach said. "I'd like to pitch Libby in one game, but I really want to see who throws what."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, April 12, 2001
