After playing their first two homes games of the season, the Clan softball team is still searching for their first win of the year.
Playing their first home games almost a month after three exhibition contests were snowed out, SFU was in tough against the defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) champions, the Saint Martin’s Saints. A scrappy Clan team gave the Saints everything they had, but fell in both ends of the weekend doubleheader.
SFU fell 9–6 in the first game. SMU jumped out to an early 3–0 lead, but the Clan tied it in the fourth, and then took over the lead 6–3 before the inning was over. SFU held the lead until the sixth inning when the Saints pounded the Clan for six more of their own.
“I think I’ve got to go buy some bullet proof cleats for our players because we seem to find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot every game,” said head coach Mike Renney. “The first game, the wheels just came off in one inning where we made several errors against the team that won the conference, that’s projected to win the conference again and they took advantage of it with a six spot in a game where we had worked hard and earned the lead. Other than that one inning, we competed the entire game.”
The second game featured a Clan collapse as well. SFU lost 5–2, but only trailed by one heading into the seventh and final inning. With the top of the SFU order due up in the bottom of the seventh, the Clan’s defence allowed two more Saint runs in the top half to seal the deal.
The two losses drop the Clan’s record to 0–8 within the GNAC and 0–17 overall.
“I was really pleased with our compete [this weekend],” added Renney. “Having said that, we’re not where we need to be yet and we’re not where we want to be but I’m confident in this group of athletes.”
SFU’s next batch of home games are this weekend, against Central and Western Washington, two teams near the top of the GNAC standings. Renney’s squad will need all the compete they can muster to earn their first win of the season.
