Belles Tame Grizzlies, Hit 20 Wins for Seventh Consecutive Season
Game One Box Score - Game Two Box Score
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's softball team swept visiting Franklin by 7-1 and 11-1 (5 innings) scores to tally their 19th and 20th wins of the season.
Under the guidance of Erin Sullivan, the Belles have had 20 or more wins each season in her tenure as head coach.
Callie Selner earned her eleventh
pitching win of the season in game
one against Franklin.The Belles jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning of game one by notching six runs on four hits and an error while hitting through the order. With bases loaded and just one out gone in the first, Angela Gillis drove in the first run of the day with a single to right-center field. Jordie Wasserman put the ball in play and reached on an error by the Grizzlies' second baseman, which also allowed a pair of runs to score. Gillis then scored on a sacrifice fly by Kate Mitchell, and Emily Sherwood and Kristen Nelson had back-to-back doubles to plate the fifth and sixth runs of the inning.
The game remained 6-0 in favor of Saint Mary's until the Belles pushed a run across in the bottom of the fifth inning on three consecutive hits. Gillis led the inning off with her second hit of the day. Wasserman then delivered a double over the left fielder's head to put runners on second and third. Michelle Duncan drove in Gillis with a single to center field to give Saint Mary's the 7-0 advantage.
Franklin nullified the shutout by scoring a run in the top of the sixth inning, but Callie Selner and the Saint Mary's defense retired the next four batters in-a-row to take the 7-1 decision.
Selner earned her eleventh win on the season as she allowed just one run on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts over seven innings of work.
Angela Gillis finished the opener with a 2-for-3 effort from the dish. The senior scored a pair of runs and drove one in for the Belles. Victoria Connelly was 2-for-4 in game one with a run scored.
Game two was all Saint Mary's from the start. The Belles scored four runs in the first, three in the second, and four in the third to post an 11-0 lead. Each hitter in the Belles' lineup had at least one hit and scored at least one run. In the second inning, Saint Mary's blew the game wide open when Callie Selner smacked a two-out, three-run home run over the straight away center field fence to put the Belles up 7-0. In the third, the Belles had four consecutive hits to lead off the inning and later strung a pair of singles left on their way to hitting through the order for the second time on the afternoon.
Angela Gillis earned the game-two
win and went 5-for-6 at the plate
on the day.The Grizzlies had two of their three hits in the top of the fifth to get on the scoreboard, but Angela Gillis started off a double play with an over-the-shoulder catch and finished it with a short toss to second to end the Franklin threat and the game in five innings.
The 11 runs of support was more than enough for Gillis in the circle. The senior picked up the win after allowing one run on three hits in the mercy rule-shortened game.
Gillis once again led the offense with a perfect 3-for-3 performance as she hit a double and scored a run to help her own cause. Lauren Enayati, Victoria Connelly, Jordie Wasserman, Emily Sherwood, and Kristen Nelson all notched two hits apiece in the team's 20th win of the year.
The Belles (20-8) will get back to conference play when they host in-state rival and league-leading Trine on Tuesday, April 17 beginning at 3:30 p.m.