By Tim Stried
March 31, 2003

If it's not Mother Nature keeping the Bluffton College softball squad off its home field, it's the schedule. The Beavers were to have hosted three double-headers by now, however the weather has so far forced the cancellation of each of those twin bills to deny BC a home date at Marbeck Field, where Bluffton fashioned an 8-2 record last season.

In its only games last week, Bluffton dropped a pair of 9-0 games at a powerful Alma College squad on Thursday to see its record drop to 6-10 overall. The Beavers will now get the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference portion of their schedule underway, albeit on the road as Bluffton travels to Anderson on April 1, Franklin on April 5 and Hanover on April 6.

Senior Missy Neal and sophomore Jenny Lehman are both batting over .300 for Bluffton, as Neal's .317 average leads the team and Lehman is close behind at .312. Neal also leads the team in hits (13), triples (3), total bases (19), and slugging percentage (.463).

Freshman Jessica Rosengarten leads the pitching staff with a 0.62 ERA in 11.1 innings of work, while freshman Sarah Betts is 4-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 50.2 innings.

Against Alma, sophomore Allison Lange produced Bluffton's lone hit in the first game, while in the second game sophomore Lane Leedy, junior Amber Fitzwater and senior Missy Alexander all had hits.