On Thursday, April 16, the Belleville softball team traveled to Waterloo where they lost in six innings, 12-2.

Freshman Cassidy Heller started on the mound, pitching four innings and two outs. She struck out two and walked one while giving up 12 runs on 11 hits with nine of those runs being earned. Junior Ryley Helwig came in as the reliever walking one and giving up a hit.

"As a team, we made six errors that did not help our cause. Heller had some batters hitting grounders that we did not handle, but Waterloo could hit the ball hard. They had three doubles and a homerun off Heller," explained Head Coach Connie Wunschel. "We are still working with Heller to make her realize she won't blow it by batters at this level, and when you have two strikes on a girl, you can't throw it near the zone. We will have to develop another pitch for her."

Belleville's two runs came in the fourth inning when Tara Hanna walked, Taylor Kenkel then reached first on an error moving Hanna to second. Miranda O'Rourke came up and slammed a first pitch double to deep center to score Kenkel and Hanna. The only other hit was by sophomore Grace Przybyl in the fifth inning.

"We only had 20 times at the plate. She wasn't overwhelming as a pitcher, but I think the girls got caught up in her approach and didn't see the ball well," said Wunschel.

On Tuesday, April 14, the Wildcats faced the Cambridge Bluejays at home. Belleville lost 7-3.

Helwig threw the ball for six innings, striking out five, walking two, and giving up seven runs on nine hits. Heller then came in for the last inning, shutting down the Bluejays with three straight outs.

"We had our chances in the first five innings, leaving six runners on base and not being able to get anything to get them pushed around the bases," said Wunschel. "We have to start putting the hits together and coming through with some clutch hits so we can take advantage of having those runners out there."

Senior Taylor Wallom was two for four with two doubles; Hanna was two for four with one run and one RBI; Kenkel was two for four with one run; and O'Rourke was two for two with one RBI.

On Monday, April 13, Belleville matched up against Monticello with the Ponies emerging victorious, 16-5.

Helwig started on the mound again going five innings where she struck out two and walked two; she gave up 16 hits and 14 runs. Heller then pitched the last inning where she struck out one and gave up two runs on one hit.

Offensively, Wallom was two for three, and Belleville only had six hits. Hanna had a double, and sophomore Alli Kowalski had a hit.