BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team dropped a pair of games to Earlham College on Saturday, March 30, 2024. It marked the first-ever Heartland Conference contests for the school from Richmond, Ind. Bluffton fell to 6-16 overall and 0-2 in the conference, while Earlham improved to 7-11 and 2-0 in the HCAC.
After a pair of scoreless frames, Earlham found its stroke with four runs on five hits in top of the third. The Quakers made it 7-0 with a three-run bomb in the fourth and they piled it on with four more tallies in the seventh for an impressive 11-0 victory in the lidlifter.
Game one starter Emily Hope (Enon/Greenon) went 2-of-3 to lead the Beavers at the plate. She dropped to 3-2 after allowing four runs on six hits in 2.2 innings of work.
Earlham put five runs on the board in the first inning of game two, all with two outs, after Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) retired the first two batters. The visitors did not score again, but they made it hold up as Morgan Cooksey tossed a four-hit shutout for the Quakers.
Fleshman went the distance, allowing five runs on 11 hits with six walks in seven innings.
Bluffton will depart for Easter before its next next home twin-bill with Wilmington University next Thursday, April 4, 2024. Game one with the other Quakers is slated for 3:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-