ANDERSON, Ind. - The Bluffton University softball team saw its 2021 season come to an end at Anderson as the Ravens swept a pair of Heartland Conference games by identical 9-1 final scores, both in five innings, on Sunday, May 2.

Senior Taylor Steinke (Findlay) put Bluffton up 1-0 in the top of the first when she followed a Lily Tate (Mount Gilead) two-bagger with an RBI single to left center. Anderson took over in the bottom of the second with four runs. The Ravens made it 5-1 in the third and then put it on ice with another four-spot in the fourth as the home team took game one 9-1 in five innings.

Steinke finished with two hits for the visitors. Sophomore Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) fell to 3-9 after allowing nine runs on 11 hits in four innings of work. She walked one and struck out one.

Bobbi Adams (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) plated pinch runner Emily Dyson (Payne/Wayne Trace) with a sacrifice fly to center, knotting game two 1-1 in the middle of the the third inning. Anderson answered back emphatically with three runs in the home half, one in the fourth and four more in the fifth, ending the capper with an identical 9-1 score in mercy-rule fashion.

Seniors Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) and Brianna Baker (Defiance/Ayersville) had the only hits for Bluffton in game two. Katie McCord (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) surrendered nine runs, just four earned, on 11 hits in 4.2 innings of work.

Bluffton ends its season with a 6-27 mark overall and 3-13 in the Heartland Conference. Check back for updated records in the coming weeks as well as the Heartland Conference awards following the HCAC tournament which is slated for the week of May 13-16.

-BEAVERS-