By Tim Stried
March 24, 2003

The Bluffton College softball team came up a bit short in two games at Heidelberg College last Tuesday, but following a road test at Alma College March 27 the Beavers will host Hanover College Sat., March 29 in a double-header beginning at 11 a.m. in the Beavers' first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference contests of the season.

Bluffton is now 6-8 overall after falling 1-0 and 7-0 at Heidelberg March 18. BC's double-header at Adrian March 22 was cancelled.

In the first game at Heidelberg, freshman Sarah Betts held The 'Berg scoreless until the last inning, when an unearned run with two outs proved to be the game winning run for the hosts. Betts struck out five hitters, while leading the offense with two hits each were senior Stephanie Rush and sophomore Mandy Snider.

Heidelberg scored five runs in the first inning of the second game and went on to defeat the Beavers 7-0. Sophomore Jenny Lehman led BC at the plate with two hits and also pitched six innings, collecting two strikeouts.

Lehman's .333 batting average leads the team, while senior Missy Neal is close behind at .317. She leads the squad in hits (13), triples (3) and slugging percentage (.463), while sophomore Allison Lange is tops in doubles (3) and RBI (6).

Among the pitchers, Betts is 4-3 and owns a 1.05 ERA with a team-high 40 strikeouts.