Saint Mary's (5-12, 0-4) dropped its eighth and ninth consecutive games today, falling 10-6 and 11-5 to conference foe Albion College.The Belles offense showed signs of life, producing nine runs in each of the doubleheader's two games, but the defense committed eight errors on the afternoon, allowing six unearned runs to cross the plate.Saint Mary's played well in the first game of the double dip and led 4-3 going into the sixth inning. But Briton Jessie Loegel singled in Jenelle Vleck - who had reached base earlier on an error - to tie the game at 4-4. In the top of the eighth, the Britons pushed two across, taking a 6-4 lead. The Belles fought back, knotting the game at 6-6 after a sacrifice bunt by Sarah Miesle and an RBI double by McKenna Corrigan. The next two batters flew out, however, leaving Corrigan stranded at second. The game went to a second extra frame, where the Britons pulled away, scoring four runs to make the final score 10-6.The second half of the doubleheader had a promising beginning for Saint Mary's. The Belles got on the board early, when Corrigan hit another RBI double in the first inning that scored Audrey Gajor. The hit would have netted two runs but Laura Heline was called out in a close play at home to end the inning and the threat.Albion countered with four runs in its half of the inning, taking a lead th team would never relinquish.Saint Mary's pulled within one at 4-3 in the third inning, but the Britons scored the next five runs to pull away, eventually winning the game 11-5. The six errors committed by the Saint Mary's defense made any chance of a comeback near impossible.The young Belles squad showed promise throughout the afternoon, but had trouble stringing together good innings, which allowed a very consistent Albion team to notch the two victories.The wins were the first and second for the Britons in MIAA play. Saint Mary's fell to 0-4 in the conference and will need to put forth a strong effort as the season progresses if they hope to make any noise in the conference.The Belles play away this Saturday, meeting Adrian College. They return to Saint Mary's April 14 for a double dip against Hope College.
