The Belles’ doubleheader against Manchester scheduled for Wednesday was postponed and will be rescheduled to an undetermined date. The Belles will hit the field Sunday in one of their final non-conference games against North Park.
This will give the Belles (8-4, 0-0 MIAA) time to prepare against North Park (6-4, 0-0 CCIW). The Vikings are on a two-game winning streak, most recently coming off a 7-2 victory over Rutgers-Newark on March 15. The Vikings are led by junior infielder Cyerra Rodriguez, freshman outfielder Kristin Reichert, sophomore infielder Nicole Kruckman and junior outfielder Paige Massa. These players lead the Vikings in batting averages and RBI.
The Belles will have to contain Rodriguez on Sunday, as she led the Vikings last year with 34 RBI, batted a .361 average and led the team with 11 doubles.
Last year, when the Belles faced off against North Park, they dropped both games in the double header losing 1-0 in their first contest and 6-3 in their second bout. However, this year Saint Mary’s goes into its matchup with the Vikings on a six-game win streak in which the Belles outscored their opponents 38 to 9. The string of wins comes after Saint Mary’s was shut out in three of their first six games.
Behind the bats of senior Callie Selner, sophomore Jillian Busfield and freshman Caitlyn Migawa, the Belles recorded a solid .350 team batting average over the course of the six-game winning streak. In addition to their batting, Selner and sophomore Sarah Burke have struck out 40 opposing batters and allowed only six earned runs.
Looking into how their recent success has played out during their games, the Belles won every game they played when scoring three or more runs. On the other side of the spectrum, in games where the Belles have trailed, the team was only able to muster up two wins, both coming from their recent double header against Dominican.
Looking to face North Park’s two-game winning streak, Saint Mary’s will take on the Vikings Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Saint Mary’s College softball field.
