Saint Mary’s Splits on Opening Day of MIAA Tournament
vs. Alma
vs. Hope
HOLLAND, MI – The third seeded Belles opened the MIAA softball tournament by knocking off Alma, the second seed, by a 3-2 count but dropped their second game of the day to the top seed, Hope, 5-2.
Saint Mary’s will face Alma once again in the four-team event on Saturday at Noon with the winner having to beat Hope twice to win the conference title while the loser will record their second loss and suffer eliminating. The Belles record stands at 28-12.
In the opening round victory over Alma, the Belles got on the board first in the top of the second when catcher Ashley Fusaro scored on a throwing error. Saint Mary’s tacked on another run with a Bridget Grall run producing single. Alma tied the score in the bottom of the third on a pair of RBI singles. Saint Mary’s scored the winning run when Sarah Miesle drove in Calli Davison on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.
Grall sparked the Belles all-around by going 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI. On the mound the senior struck out four in upping her record to 11-7.
In the match-up of the two winners, Hope earlier beat Olivet, the host Flying Dutch used a balance attack and back-to-back strong innings for the win. Four separate Hope players tallied four hits in the game as seven of the nine players in the starting line-up recorded a base knock. The Flying Dutch combined to scored four run in the third and four innings to put the game away.
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