Rays give Bears first loss of the season

Breaking a season-long winning streak, the minor league Bears faced their first loss of the year at the hands of the Rays. It was not a narrow defeat, either, as the Rays made over twice as many points as the Bears, with a score of 16-7 on June 4. The Rays have had a somewhat average season, winning as many games as losing, but unseating the Bears was a good demonstration of how far the team has come, according to coach Tawney Crowley.

"It was 100 percent their attitude," she said. "They were working together. We had a big pep talk at practice the day before, talking about the expectations of the team, expectations of each other, going over what our strengths were, things that we could work on. Then they showed up and it was, like, they were communicating, they were backing each other up, they were actually believing in themselves. Then they just ended up completely blowing themselves, and us, away. It was just really impressive."

Despite the loss, the Bears returned to form in their next game, on June 6, against the Sharks. While the Sharks got in two runs early in the game, they were unable to keep up with the Bears. The score was 2-7 by the third inning, and then 2-8. The final score, in the sixth inning, was 2-9 in favor of the Bears.

"I'm glad that all our team players came to play, and I'm proud of them sticking it out," said Bears Coach John Powell.

Sharks Coach Rod Rhoades was overheard giving his team a pep talk after the game. He said he was proud of their performance. They had done fairly well in most areas of the game, and they would have won if they had gotten more hits. He also reminded the team that they would be playing in a special game against Petersburg on Saturday, and to show up ready to play at 1 p.m. that day.