By Bill Hanefeld Jr., sports information director
April 1, 2006

LEXINGTON, Ky - The Bluffton University softball team (7-10, 0-2 HCAC) traveled to Lexington and dropped a pair of contests to the Pioneers on Saturday, April 1, 2006. Bluffton fell 5-4 in the opener and came up short 14-5 in game two.

GAME ONE - TRANSYLVANIA 5, BLUFFTON 4

Transylvania used a walk and two Bluffton errors in the first to take the early 1-0 lead over the Beavers.

The Bluffton bats came to life in the third inning as GRETCHEN HANDLEY (Ashland/Ashland) opened the frame with a single to left field. Starting pitcher SARAH BETTS (Bryan/Bryan) moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt before a SARAH NUSBAUM (Fairview/Fairview) single left runners on the corners with one out. RANDI YEAGER (Harrison/Harrison) doubled to center field scoring Handley and moving Nusbaum to third. LINDSAY MILLER (Haviland/Wayne Trace) reached on a fielder's choice as Nusbaum scored and Yaeger advanced to third. A CARRIE WEISBECKER (Okeana/Ross) single plated Miller and the Beavers led 4-1 midway throught the third inning.

Transylvania responded with a pair of runs on three hits and an error in the bottom of the third to move to within one run of the Beavers.

With two outs in the fourth, FITZPATRICK doubled to left field and crossed the plate when GIBSON singled to left.

Both teams struggled to find baserunners until the bottom of the seventh when Gibson led off the inning with an infield single. SKELTON, inserted as a pinch runner,  moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and motored home when LEACH reached on a Bluffton error which gave Transylvania the 5-4 victory in its final at bat.

TONYA DEAN (Kettering/Kettering) took the loss although she gave up only one unearned run in 2.2 innings of work.

The Beavers finished with six hits, including the Yaeger double.

GAME TWO - TRANSYLVANIA 14, BLUFFTON 5

Transylvania jumped on top 3-0 in the bottom of the first thanks to four hits and an error.

Bluffton rallied to score five runs on four hits and two errors in the top of the second; unfortunately it was the only inning that the Beavers would cross the plate. Weisbecker reached on an error to open the inning. LINDSEY MILLER (Wapakoneta/Wapakoneta) moved her to second with a single up the middle. With two outs, the Beavers did their damage. KELLIE KENNEY (Toledo/Emmanuel Baptist) ripped a single up the middle loading the bases before Nusbaum drew a bases loaded walk. Yaeger and Miller followed with singles and an error allowed the Beavers to take a short lived 5-3 lead.

Transylvania put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the second before the floodgates opened for the Pioneers in the third inning. Bluffton committed an error in the third and Transy put together five singles to plate seven runs and put the game out of reach.

CATIE RICHMAN (Upper Sandusky/Upper Sandusky) picked up the Beavers only base hit in the fourth and fifth innings as Transylvania picked up the 14-5 win in five innings to improve to 13-5 and 2-0 in the HCAC.

The Beavers picked up eight hits while the Pioneers pounded out 14 hits. Yaeger finished with two RBI's to lead the Beavers.

Fitzpatrick and Gibson both tallied three hits for the victorious Pioneers.

Bluffton returns to action on Sunday, April 2, 2006 when it takes on Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati at 12 p.m.

-BEAVERS-