BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team dropped a doubleheader to Case Reserve on Good Friday, April 2, 2021. The Spartans rolled to a 14-0 mercy-rule victory in game one and followed that up with an 8-3 win in game two.

The lone Bluffton hit in game one was a Bobbi Adams (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) rocket down the right field line in the fourth inning. The Spartans scored in only three innings, but they made them count with two in the first, five in the third and a seven-spot in the fifth frame. Leadoff hitter Sarah Miller showed why she came into the game with a .407 batting average and five dingers as she lasered the second pitch of the game over the fence in center field and cleared the bases with her bomb to right in the fifth inning.

Katie McCord (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) fell to 1-4 after surrendering 14 runs, seven earned, on 13 hits in five innings of work. She walked three and struck out one batter.

After six more scoreless frames for the Beavers to start game two, the Bluffton bats found some life in the seventh. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Adams and senior Taylor Steinke (Findlay) plated Lily Tate (Mount Gilead/Northmor), pinch runner Sammi Urban (Troy/Miami East) and Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview), but it was not enough as the visitors capped the sweep with an 8-3 victory in game two.

Sophomore Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) slipped to 1-3 after allowing four runs on five hits in her six-inning start. She walked three and struck out one Spartan. Steinke drove in two runs and senior Riley Langstaff (Findlay) went 2-of-4 for the home team.

Bluffton will have an early wakeup call on Saturday, April 3, when they travel four and a half hours to Terre Haute, Ind., for a pair of conference games at Rose-Hulman. The first contest is slated for 1 p.m.

-BEAVERS-