BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph Lions showed why they are the class of the Heartland Conference in a pair of mercy-rule victories at Bluffton on a beautiful Wednesday, April 24. The Beavers fell to 7-27 overall and 2-10 in the HCAC, while MSJ moved to 32-5 with a stellar 13-1 mark in the conference.

After an 11-0 five-inning defeat in game one, the Beavers jumped on the board with a Caylin Morstadt (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) RBI single to left in the bottom of the first in game two.

The Lions put it out of reach with six runs in the third and one in the fourth for a 9-1 advantage. Sophomore Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) just missed the scoreboard for her third homer of the season before Kelsey Reeder (Galion/Northmor) lined an RBI single to center in the bottom of the fifth. With the score 9-3 after the five, the Beavers staved off execution for one more inning, but MSJ answered with three more tallies in the top of the sixth to secure the 12-3 run-rule victory.

Reeder continued to impress with three hits on the day. Katie McCord (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) took the loss in game one, falling to 3-9 on the year after allowing 11 runs, six earned, on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work. Fellow sophomore Annie McCrate (Westerville/South) went to 0-3 after giving up eight runs on five hits in 2.1 innings to start game two. Junior Alexis Montemarano (Brook Park/Berea-Midpark) closed out both games for the Beavers.

Bluffton is back at home for Senior Day on Saturday, April 27, when the Beavers host Transylvania. The first pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

-BEAVERS-