The Baker softball team continued to face adversity fighting through a 14-game losing streak and coming within one or two runs from victory in eight of those contests.

Then, after losing another close contest on Wednesday, this time 2-0 to MidAmerica Nazarene University, in the first game of a doubleheader, the offensive floodgates opened.

The Wildcats reeled off a whopping nine runs in a 9-3 victory with sophomore pitcher Stephanie Nelson earning the win.

“Everyone stepped up,” Nelson said. “We took advantage of what they gave us.”

Nelson said earning a win has greatly impacted the team’s moral.

“I think we needed to get this win,” she said. “Hopefully we will get on a roll.”

The team was all set to travel last weekend to Sioux City, Iowa, for the Morningside Tournament when it was canceled, and the team had to quickly schedule a two-game series with Friends University in Wichita Saturday.

The team struggled to score runs and fell 9-2 in the first game and 9-1 in the second.

Freshman Kim Gilges said the team would start to win games as the players start to get more acclimated to one another.

“I think what we need to do is get more comfortable playing with each other, and that will eliminate the mental errors,” she said.

Junior Jayde Allen said that with some maturity, the team can reach it’s potential and gain some victories.

“We have a lot of growing up to do,” she said. “As long as we stick together as a team, it can be done.”

Freshman Kayla Brown said the players are trying to find good points in each outing and fix things that are in need of change.

“We’ve just been trying to take the positives from it and work on the negatives,” she said.

Allen said head coach Jennifer Rigdon is a positive influence for the team and told them not to let the tough losses get to them.

“Coach has been very good,” Allen said. “We’ve broken down hitting to the littlest details. She is making sure we know the game is fun.”

Brown is confident the team will turn things around in the near future.

“We just need to put both defense and offense together in one game,” Brown said. “Only positive things can come.”

Gilges also reiterated the fact that things will go the team’s way at some point and that there are still quite a few games to be won.

“We know that we can’t go anywhere but up,” Gilges said. “It’s all mental errors that are happening in the games.”

The team has eight more scheduled contests before the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament begins.

Allen believes if the team could gain some momentum and make the tournament, as some opponents might overlook the Wildcat squad.

“We still have quite a few conference games left,” Allen said. “I think if we got in people would underestimate us, and we could surprise some people.”