Senior left fielder Sam Cronk said that she and the rest of Western’s softball team were told to be more aggressive by the coaching staff.

That aggressive style of play in the batters box led the Lady Toppers to sweep a double header against Belmont last night at the WKU Softball Complex winning game one, 6-3 and game two 4-3.

“We hit the ball a lot more solid and on the ground,” Cronk said. “Last week we hit a lot of fly balls. We just made a lot more solid contact tonight.”

With the win, the Lady Toppers (30-17) earned their first 30 win season since 2007. Cronk said that she thought that was a possibility going into the season.

“We could definitely win way more than that,” Cronk said. “We’re better than last year.”

Despite the aggressive play and picking up both wins, coach Tyra Perry said she felt the team could have played better.

“I thought we did enough to win but I don’t think we played very well,” Perry said. “Getting to 30 wins is significant and that’s what happened with both of those wins tonight. But I still want us to play a little better ball.”

The sweep by the Lady Toppers follows a series sweep against South Alabama last weekend in Mobile, Ala. Previously, the team had suffered a five game losing streak that had started back on April 19 against North Texas.

Perry said that the sweep of Belmont was important going into this weekend’s series and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

“I think we will be motivated because our team really looks up to our seniors,” Perry said. “I think that will motivate them to play well for the weekend.”

This weekend Western will play its final Sun Belt Conference series against Middle Tennessee State at the WKU Softball Complex. With it being the last series before the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, junior right fielder Kelsey McCauley said that this point of the season was important, as well as her favorite.

“To me this part of the season is the most fun,” McCauley said. “This is what you work for an entire year. We’ve been working hard. All the hard work is going to pay off and closing out with Middle (Tennessee State) will be great for us going into the tournament. Going to Texas, we’re all just really excited.”

Western will play host to Middle Tennessee State this weekend at the WKU Softball Complex with game one scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday.