Olivet comes away with sweep at Bluffton

Olivet comes away with sweep at Bluffton

BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team dropped a pair of non-conference games to Olivet College on a mild Wednesday, March 27, 2019. The Comets immproved to 11-7, while Bluffton slipped to 4-14 on the season.

Olivet slugged its way to a 6-0 lead over the Beavers before sophomore Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) launched her first collegiate homer down the left field line in the home half of the third.

The Comets tacked on six more runs in the fourth and fifth to forge a commanding 12-1 lead going to the bottom the fifth. Kelsey Reeder's (Galion/Northmor) single through the right side plated Tabatha Koetter (Beavercreek) and Taylor Steinke (Findlay), but Olivet worked out of the jam with a pair of force outs and a strikeout to finish game one in five innings (12-3).

Freshman Molly Bollinger (Lima/Shawnee) fell to 0-3 after surrendering five runs on eight hits in three innings of work. Reeder drove in a pair of runs to lead the Bluffton offense.

Game two looked like it was going to a carbon copy of the lidlifter when Kinslea Blouin followed back-to-back Olivet base hits with a three-run shot off the scoreboard with no outs in the top of the first. Bluffton responded with two tallies in the bottom of the second when junior Megan Hill (Arcadia) led off with a two-bagger down the left field line. Courtney Jasinski (Englewood/Northmont) tripled to the wall in center field and Langstaff picked her up with a base hit up the middle.

After the teams combined for five runs in just two innings, the offenses came to a screeching halt and Olivet made its 3-2 lead hold up over the final five frames.

Bowen and Jasinski, who fell to to 0-3 despite allowing just three runs in four innings, both finished with two safeties. Sophomore Katie McCord (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) was nearly perfect in her three-inning relief stint, limiting Olivet to a single hit and no runs.

Bluffton returns to action on Saturday, March 30, when the Beavers travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Heartland Conference opener at Rose-Hulman. The first game is slated for 1 p.m. Indiana time.

-BEAVERS-