Belles slip to 3rd in MIAA
By PAT LEONARD
Sports Writer
The Saint Mary's softball team turned a big weekend into a disappointing one.
The Belles, who before this weekend sat atop the MIAA conference with 12 wins and two wins in league play, lost four of six games over the weekend and dropped to third in the league behind Olivet and Alma. The Belles lost one game to Albion, one to Hope and two games to a 10-16 Adrian team.
Saint Mary's (14-10-1, 4-4 MIAA) struggled at the plate and in the field all weekend. While a lack of offense hurt the Belles in close games, defense and errors took them out of games too.
"We played very poorly this weekend. It was a very important weekend and we did not play how we could have," coach Anna Welsh said. "We definitely did not play like we did in Florida [at the Fort Myers tournament, 8-2-1]."
To open the six-game weekend stretch, the Belles had as many errors as they did hits in a 7-2 home loss to Albion. Junior Libby Wilhelmy got the start and allowed four runs (one earned) on five hits in four innings. Junior shortstop Marnie Walsh made three errors and the team had five total. Saint Mary's tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning when Walsh singled to bring Wilhelmy home. But Albion tacked on three runs in the fourth inning and added three insurance runs in the top of the sixth to seal the victory.
The Belles bounced back in Friday's second game with a 4-2 win. Freshman Bridget Grall allowed five hits and one run in five innings. Grall also scored two runs as the Belles put ten hits on Albion pitchers.
The game pattern stayed the same during Saturday's doubleheader versus Hope in Michigan. The Belles lost the first contest, 5-1, and then came back in the second game to win, 6-4. Grall's infield single in the third inning of the first game saved Saint Mary's from being no-hit by a team that is 10-11 overall and 3-3 in the MIAA. Walsh blew up in the second game, going 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs. The team, however, made four errors in both games.
The mistakes carried over into Sunday. After losing to Alma College 18-0 and 15-2 in a doubleheader on Saturday, Adrian traveled to Saint Mary's and stole both games to shock the Belles and put a damper on league title hopes for Welsh's squad.
In a 9-2 defeat, Wilhelmy pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs and two earned runs on eight hits. The backbreaker was a five run fourth inning in which both Wilhelmy and Greta Linde made key errors to keep the Adrian rally alive. The final game saw Saint Mary's leave 11 players on base. Each team had eight hits.
Saint Mary's made the game 3-2 in the top of the fifth when Bridget Grall crossed home plate on a throwing error. Still, Adrian answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and held on to a 4-3 victory.
The Belles have had a successful season to this point. This will be the first time Saint Mary's will have to rebound from a tough performance.
"I am anxious to see how the team bounces back and how they handle adversity," Welsh said. "This was a tough weekend for us. Since we didn't do as well as planned, we really need to step it up for our next three conference opponents."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 15, 2003
