BLUFFTON, Ohio - It was a day of celebration at the Bluffton University softball field as the Beavers honored 2020 graduates Caylin Morstadt, Courtney Jasinski and Megan Hill with their jerseys between games one and two on a beautiful Saturday, April 17, 2021! Hill was doing her thing, directing the Beavers to a split with a tough Franklin squad, while Morstadt and Jasinski were deputized into sports information for the afternoon as Bluffton hosted softball, golf, baseball and football on a historic day for the Beavers!
It looked a little dicey when the Beavers misplayed a ground ball to open the game, but Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) was at her best on Saturday, facing just three batters over the minimum in game one. Her battery mate, fellow sophomore Bobbi Adams (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes), gave the Beavers all they would need when she drove the second pitch of the Bluffton fourth over the fence in left field for a 1-0 lead. Senior Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) said anything you can do, I can do better, as she took a chunk out of the scoreboard six pitches later for a back-to-back jack as the home team went up 2-0 over the Grizzlies.
With Norman dealing like she was at a blackjack table in Las Vegas, the Beavers gave her plenty of breathing room with three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Bowen singled home Lily Tate (Mount Gilead/Northmor) and Marissa Auvil (North Canton/Hoover) followed with a two-run, two-bagger to the gap in right center as Bluffton put up five runs on the Heartland Conference ERA leader, Alisha Burch, who entered the day with a microscopic 1.17 earned run average in 54 innings of work.
Bluffton went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first in game two when Adams crossed the dish, but Franklin responded with seven runs over the next four innings as the visitors opened up a 7-1 cushion. Two Grizzly errors in the sixth helped Bluffton pull within 7-3, but three more tallies by the visitors in the seventh made the final score 10-3 in the series capper.
Adams went 2-of-4 with a run scored. Freshman Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes), who happens to be from the same high school as Adams and Morstadt, dropped her first decision of the year after allowing four runs on six hits in 2.1 innings of work.
Bluffton will kick off a three-game road swing when the Beavers travel to Anderson University on Wednesday, April 21. Game one is slated for 3 p.m. Indiana time.
-BEAVERS-
