Saint Mary's dropped a pair to top-ranked cross-town rival Bethel in a doubleheader Monday.
The Belles fell 14-4 in the first game. Errors hampered the team's defensive effort, and despite putting a few runs on the board, the game was called due to the 10-run rule in the sixth inning.
Things did not immediately improve for Saint Mary's in the second game, with the Pilots scoring nine runs in the top of the first inning. The Belles battled back, capitalizing on base hits with smart base running to add runs in every inning and gradually narrow the Pilots' lead.
However, after a full seven innings Bethel came out ahead 14-11.
"I told them we just need to chip away a little bit every inning, they did such a great job of stringing hits together," Belles coach Erin Sullivan said. "I'm just so impressed with how our hitters did, almost everybody had multiple hits."
The team remains confident that the persistence and positive attitude they showed today will carry them through the tough games that await them when they begin conference play.
"The way we played against Bethel … if we play team ball we should be in the top three in our conference," Sullivan said. "Today was just a really good team effort, we weren't shut out our pitchers through well and our hitters were really consistent."
The Belles will take to the road on Thursday to play North Central College, their last game before their first conference game, against Kalamazoo Saturday.
