The Belles had to play through inclement weather once again Thursday, until the MIAA jamboree was suspended due to rain midway through the event's only round of golf.
The event, hosted by Albion at the Medalist Golf Course in Marshall, Mich., began at 1:00 p.m. but was interrupted around 3:30 p.m. when players were forced to leave the course. No plans have yet been announced regarding a concluding date for the third of four regular season MIAA matches, or even if Thursday's results will be officially recorded in the conference standings.
"We are checking with the commissioner of the conference to see how we proceed," Belles coach Mark Hamilton said.
"The scorecards were collected, so we may go back and start again at a later date [to complete the round], we might start over 18 holes totally or it might be a scratch. So those are our three options."
The match was the second consecutive event on Saint Mary's schedule to be affected by rain, as the final round of the DePauw Small College Classic was shortened to nine holes on Sunday.
Because play was stopped in the middle of play and scorecards were collected, the Belles never got the chance to see how their team score stacked up against the rest of the competitors on the day. Through the nine holes before play was suspended, Saint Mary's had tallied a card of 169.
Freshman Janice Heffernan was leading the Belles with her score of 40, followed by senior Natalie Matuszak at 42, senior Christine Brown at 43 and junior Jessica Kinnick at 44.
Had the Belles been able to keep their pace through 18 holes, they would have completed the round with a score of 338, which would have been their lowest score in conference play this year.
Whether Thursday's scores will eventually factor into the conference standings or not, Hamilton said he was pleased with how his team performed.
"Actually we weren't playing too badly, considering the conditions were quite horrible," he said. "We were hitting better shots, playing better today and making some birdies."
Not factoring in Thursday's results, the Belles were 22 strokes back of conference leader Hope and sitting in third place behind Olivet.
The Belles are set to resume play Saturday when they travel to Kalamazoo for the final conference match of the season before the MIAA championships begins Oct. 7.
Contact Joseph Monardo at jmonardo@nd.edu
