By Ross Weener

Sports Editor

The Calvin women's softball team has returned from its spring break trip to Florida. The southern conquest saw the Knights return with a 6-4 record amid formidable competition.

This years version of the Knights are vying to overcome a disappointing 2001 season that saw them finish 14-22 overall and 4-10 in the MIAA. In softball only the top four teams in the MIAA make it into the post-season tourney, so the Knights will clearly keep that fact in the backs of their minds.

``We are going to try to not be so concerned over the outcomes of the games, but more concerned with doing the little things right,'' said head coach Amber Warners. ``We need to take every game as just that--one game. A few of our team goal are to have one or less errors per game, hit .300 each game, and to have our pitchers have an ERA (earned run average) of 2.0 or below.''

Senior co-captain Susannah Knust agrees. ``We feel if we can put the little things together then there are great thing in store for us. We are a little on the young side but I feel we have a great defense, good offense and a solid pitching.''

Although Calvin picked up four losses on its trip south, all were to very good teams, with three of the four coming to top 25 teams in either the NAIA or NCAA DIII. Two of the losses came to the same team, Wheaton (MA) (pronounced Weedon if you go there), who was ranked fourth in the NCAA DIII preseason poll. One of the losses was a spectacular game that great pitching by both Wheaton's pitcher Jackie Demling and Calvin freshman Rachelle Heyboer. Calvin opened up the game by loading the bases on three straight errors by the third baseman of Wheaton, but could not capitalize as Demling bore down and struck out two and forced a ground ball out to end the inning. That would be the end of the scoring threats until the fourth inning where the Wheaton bats exploded and garnered three runs on three hits. Calvin did its part to answer in the top of the fifth as it picked up one run on an RBI single from freshman third baseman Laurel Sands that scored senior Jo Haven from third base. That would be all the scoring for the Knights, as they never threatened again, losing to Wheaton 3-1. The story of the game was the very telling LOB (left on base) statistic as Calvin stranded nine runners to the two of Wheaton.

Another exciting game was a 1-0 thriller that Calvin was not able to come out on top of. It was a pitching duel to the maximum as it featured Calvin ace Heyboer to the Marian top gun T.J. Lambert. A very solid effort by Heyboer came up short as she was out-dueled by Lambert, who threw a one hitter over the course of seven innings. Heyboer scattered six hits over seven innings, but gave up that one precious run in the top of the seventh. A leadoff double, followed by a sacrifice bunt advanced the runner to third. Marian was able to capitalize when the next batter singled down the left field line to give them the only run they would need to secure the win.

The most dramatic game of the spring trip, however, was hands down the game against St. Ambrose College. Trailing 4-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning the Knights knew they had to get their bats working. Get them working they did. as Calvin exploded for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to garner a 5-4 come-from-behind victory. Sophomore Keri Cole started things off as she singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a quick out, Sands singled to right field which drew Cole to third base. With runners at the corners senior co-captain Susannah Knust kept the rally alive by delivering a base hit that scored Cole and cut the deficit to two runs. After the second Calvin out Sands stole home to cut the deficit to one run and set the scene for junior second baseman Becky Austen. Austen came through with a beautiful base hit that scored Sarah Piersma from second and Sandy Van Leeuwen from first base. Calvin bench erupted and the Knights were sent home winners in dramatic fashion, stealing one 5-4 from St. Ambrose.

``It was a very exciting win,'' noted Knust. ``We just knew we were going to do it whether we needed four runs or ten, we just knew. When Laurel stole home that was a key for us, at that point we could see St. Ambrose break down mentally and we are able to take advantage.''

``To go through something like that and to see your players never want to give up no matter how many outs there were, is really special,'' commented Warners. ``I don't think we have had that kind of intensity the last few years, so it is nice to see it again. To score runs on a two out rally like we did against St. Ambrose was very fun.''

Calvin has been trying to kick off its non-conference season here in Michigan for about two weeks now, but due to the poor weather has not been able to. The Knights travel to Alma College to take on the Scots in their league play opener on Saturday, with the double header starting at 1 PM.

The Scots started the season ranked in the top ten of DIII.