Despite a 5-6 record, Adrian will present Saint Mary's with some challenges this weekend.
Last year, Adrian stole two conference games away from the Belles, beating Saint Mary's were 9-2 and 4-3. In those games, Saint Mary's Bridget Grall had four hits.
So far, the Bulldogs have a conference record of 0-1 after being upended by Alma. However, as their second game was coming to a close with a score of 4-4, the contest was cancelled due to darkness.
Saturday's meeting will be Adrian's first game since then, and Saint Mary's needs to come out ready to play if they want to win. Currently, the Belles are coming off a 1-0 win making their record 8-12 on the season and 1-3 in the MIAA.
Laura Heline once again proved why she leads the team in batting average in Wednesday's second game as she and teammate Erin Sullivan came away with two hits apiece. On the season, she is first with an average of .455 and has an on-base percentage of .538.
Out of the eight teams in the conference, the Belles are in fifth-place in the league.
As coach Anna Welsh said after the doubleheader against Alma, the offense is a crucial element for the success of the team on Saturday and for the rest season. The pitchers have given up a combined nine runs over the last five games.
The defense's ability to limit the amount of runs being scored has given the team a chance to win every night they play. But as the pitching begins to come along, more runs needs to be scored especially as the conference tournament slowly approaches.
After tomorrow's doubleheader, Saint Mary's will reach the halfway point of its conference play with some difficult competition looming in the near future.
Saturday's game against Adrian begins at 1:00 p.m. at Saint Mary's.
