IUS softball hosted preseason No. 15 in the country, Bethel College, on Feb. 26 and lost the first game of the double-header 3-2.

The Pilots scored three runs on 10 hits and an error in the ballgame and held the Grenadiers to just two runs on five hits and an error.

Bethel head coach Anna Welsh was pleased with the way her team hit the ball during game one.

“It was our first game of the year, and we’ve been inside,” Welsh said. “This was our first time outside since the fall. I thought we hit the ball well for not being outside. So, I was impressed with that.”

Welsh also spoke highly of the pitching performances by the three Pilot pitchers in the game.

“We pitched well,” Welsh said. “We had three pitchers in there, so I was happy with the three pitchers’ performances for being game one of the season.”

IUS head coach Todd Buckingham said the game got away from the Grenadiers in the first inning.

“We came out on our heels and gave up two runs in the first inning,” Buckingham said. “So, if you take the first inning away, we would have won that game 2-1.”

Buckingham said there could have been certain factors as to why his team was defeated.

“I don’t know if they were a little bit cold, a little off their game, or maybe it’s the fact that this team is preseason No. 15 in the country,” Buckingham said. “They just thought that they were going to come out and get over-powered. Well, clearly we didn’t. So, we just have to calm down, re-focus and realize that they’re no better than we are.”

The Grenadiers went on to lose game two of the doubleheader 8-2, dropping them to 3-7 for the season.

By BRENT KULWICKI

Staff

bkulwick@ius.edu