By: Joseph Watkins, sports information assistant
CLERMONT, Fla. - The Bluffton University softball team was back in action on Thursday, March 5, after a much needed day off on Wednesday to regroup and re-energize. In game one the Beavers fell to an undefeated Widener (3-1), but came back with a 5-1 victory over Houghton in game two.
The offense struggled in game one as the Beavers put up just one run on a Courtney Jasinski (Englewood/Northmont) single to right that sent Molly Bollinger (Lima/Shawnee) across the dish for the Beavers in the top half of the fifth inning. Widener scored its runs off a solo homer, an RBI double and an RBI triple.
Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) got the start in game one and went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts. Her record fell to (2-2) despite sporting a miniscule 0.91 ERA through 23 innings.
Bluffton would get on the board in the bottom half of the first when a Riley Langstaff (Findlay) single plated Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) and Caylin Morstadt (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) for a quick 2-0 lead in game two. Houghton would get a run back in the top of the second but it turned out to be the Highlanders only score of the game.
In the bottom of the third, another Langstaff single picked up Caylin Morstadt (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes), making it 3-1. Later in the inning, a Brianna Baker (Defiance/Ayersville) single to left field drove in Langstaff, extending the lead to 4-1. Sydney Zinkon (Fresno/Ridgewood) hit a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) to score in the bottom of the fifth and that would be all that was needed to seal a 5-1 victory.
Langstaff had herself a game with three hits and three RBI in the win. Bowen went 2-of-3 while she and Morstadt both scored twice.
Katie McCord (Lawrenceburg) got the win, going 5.1 innings and allowing just one run on six hits with one punchout. Zinkon threw one pitch in the sixth, inducing an inning-ending twin killing, before shutting it down in the seventh for a save in her first collegiate work on the bump!
Bluffton will be back in action on Friday, March 6, when the Beavers play their final two games in the Sunshine State as they take on Johnson & Wales at 2:15 p.m. and Cornell College at 4:45 p.m.
-BEAVERS-