Offensive strengths lead Belles to strong season
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, June 30, 2015
The Troy Belles keep on winning during their 2015 tournament season. Heading into the District Tournament the Belles outscored their opponents by a combined score of 43-1.
A change in venue has not changed the Belles offensive output. After a first round bye, the Belles defeated Greenville 23-7, and Taylor-Rehobeth 20-2. The Belles have now outscored all their opponents 86-10.
“We are really hitting the ball, I think everyone on the team is hitting the ball really well for us,” said Belles head coach Larry Sanders.
With a total of 79 plate appearances for the Belles in their first two games of the tournament, they have yet to have a batter strikeout.
The Belles has also excelled at not only hitting the ball, but they are doing so with power and are hitting the ball to the gaps.
“We are really hitting the ball, and everyone is really doing their job,” Sanders said. “We have been able to bunt some and we have a lot of girls that can hit for power. They have hit several balls to the gaps for doubles and triples. “
One area that has been taking advantage of the power surge being put out by the offense is the pitching staff.
The Belles three starting pitchers Molly-Kate Sanders, Brooke Bennett and Sidney Garrett have all pitched really well holding the opposition’s offense to a minimal amounts of runs.
“They are hitting their spots very well. They are not giving up any walks,” Sanders said. “When you can do that, you make teams have to hit the ball, and your defense has to play. If you don’t get a strikeout that’s why you have those other eight players out there. When we have the lead we try to bring in some of the other pitchers. We are trying to get some of the other girls throwing the ball. The further we go the more pitching we will have to have.”
With the Belles jumping out to large leads, Sanders said the team has yet to face any real adversity in their first two tournaments.
“They were here last year, they went to the State Tournament and the World Series a year ago,” Sander said.
“They are good under pressure. They are having fun. If we cut down on mistakes and errors, we could be really good. The further we go the better our competition is going to be. We need to do the routine stuff.”
The Belles enter the championship game against the winner of Taylor-Rehobeth and Opp. First pitch is scheduled today for 6:00 p.m.
“We are going to down there and hope our bats stay hot,” Sanders said. “We need the defense to stay hot. We have plenty of pitching so we are not worried about the amount of innings. We should be good to go, we need to go down there and throw a good game and hope to get a win..
Even for a team that has belted 86 runs during the tournament, Sanders said he would like to see the team implement a little more small ball into his game plan.
“We have been doing some of that,” Sanders said. “I know the girls can do it, some of them don’t think they can. We just have to take each game one at a time. We won’t overlook anyone.”