It took an error-filled inning to claim the contest and Belleville nearly squandered a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, but the bats that have missing thus far came out to boost the Tigers to a 5-4 win over Mega Red rival Trenton on Monday.
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"It was a big win against a traditionally good team," Manager Peg Curtis said. "It's a monkey off our back and money off (pitcher) Sam Cole's back, because we finally scored some runs for her."
Tied at one and scoreless through two extra innings, Belleville capitalized on four errors Trenton committed in the ninth.
"That's not usually something you see, but it just seemed to compound for Trenton, which will happen sometimes," Curtis said.
But Belleville nearly gave up the game in a very similar fashion.
Trenton's first batter hit a single and stole second. She moved to third when a throw being returned to
Cole was off the mark and ended up back near second base.
A single brought Trenton's third base runner in, and Cole struck out two before the Tigers failed to sit down the next batter on a bunt. The two Inkster base runners would cross home plate on a following fly ball that a Belleville outfielder lost in the sun.
With two outs and the tying run at second, Cole logged her 13th strike out in the books and pull the Tigers out of the mess.
"We tried to give it away at the end, but I think we made a turn here and we just need to carry on," Curtis said.
Belleville also got offense from Cole, who finished 2 for 4 with a triple. Casey Porzondek went 2 for 3 and drove in Megan Sierek, who had doubled, in the fifth inning.
While the Tigers' eight hits are a sign of improvement over their previous games in which hitting became a major concern, Curtis isn't yet completely comfortable with how her girls are swinging the bats.
"We will be working on hitting at practice today," she said. "Pitchers, at this point in the season, are ahead of the hitters. It's just hard to hit all winter long and pitchers can pitch all year, so it's pretty traditional that the pitching is ahead and the hitting catches up."
The Tigers (2-3, 1-2 Mega Red) have already given up what Curtis said is their two-loss limit for the season, but she is still tweaking the line up and working with more depth than she has seen in a long time - every girl saw action against Trenton, which she called it "truly a team effort."
Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for the View/Courier. He can be reached at trperkins@gmail.com.
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