April 15, 2002

Senior Emily Kurtz became Bluffton College softball's all-time innings pitched record holder last week and the Beavers won four Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference wins in the process as BC swept a double-header from Manchester College on Wednesday and pulled off the same feat at Hanover College on Saturday.

Kurtz pitched 20 innings in three games last week, bringing her career total to 436.2 innings pitched, which breaks the former record of 416.2 held by Erin Kurtz from 1997-00. Emily is Bluffton's record holder in career ERA (1.94) and ranks second in career strikeouts (186) and games pitched (64).

Bluffton now sits alone in third place in the HCAC standings with a 5-4-1 league record. The Beavers are 7-15-1 overall and will face two more HCAC opponents this weekend at Marbeck Field. BC will take on Anderson University at 3:30 on Thursday and will host Franklin College on Saturday at 2:00.

Sophomore Amber Fitzwater collected at least one hit in all six of Bluffton's games last week, hitting 9-17 (.529) for the week, and was named the HCAC player-of-the-week on Monday.

BC notched a pair of 1-0 wins over Manchester on April 10 as Kurtz pitched a one-hitter in the first game and freshman Janeen Arps allowed just three hits in the nightcap. Sophomore Stephanie Rush provided the game-winning RBI in the first game with a double in the third inning, while junior Missy Neal's RBI single in the first inning of game two held up as the game-winner.

HCAC co-leader Mount St. Joseph handed Bluffton two losses on Friday in Cincinnati, 2-1 and 9-1, but the Beavers came back to win both games at Hanover on Saturday, 4-3 and 8-2.

Kurtz won the opener against Hanover, allowing just one earned run and collecting five strikeouts, while Arps notched a victory in game two. Freshman Allison Lange combined for four hits, two runs and an RBI in the double-header, while Fitzwater, Neal and freshman Mandy Snider all added three hits.