BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team swept a pair of 5-inning games with Manchester University on a cool Friday, March 26, 2021. Both contests were classified junior varsity on Friday afternoon.
An Erin Cicerella (Toledo/Whitmer) double to left center in the bottom of the second drove in Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) for a 1-0 lead. Norman's two-bagger in the third allowed Emily Dyson (Payne/Wayne Trace) and Annie McCrate (Westerville/South) to cross the dish as Bluffton went up 3-0.
Ciccerella doubled home Bryn Cisco (Lancaster/Fairfield Union) in the fourth inning, setting the stage for a four-run fifth that saw the Beavers nail down a mercy-rule victory in game one. Dyson, Marissa Auvil (Canton/Hoover) and pinch-runner Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) scored as Bluffton pushed its spread to 7-0 before Lexus Rutledge (Henderson, KY/Henderson County) ended hit with her RBI single down the right field line that plated Cisco for the 8-0 five-inning victory!
Junior Molly Bollinger (Lima/Shawnee) picked up the win after tossing five shutout innings. She allowed three hits, walked three and struck out four in the lidlifter.
McCrate, Norman, Cisco and Cicerella al finished with two hits. Dyson and Cisco both scored twice, while Cicerella drove in two runs.
With Manchester up 4-0 heading to the bottom of the third, Bollinger cut the deficit in half with her single up the middle that plated Dyson and Sammi Urban (Troy/Miami East). Bollinger scored on a Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) fielder's choice and Hannah Walters (Beavercreek) followed with a double to center that put Bluffton up 5-4.
RBI singles by McCrate and Walters made it 7-4 in the bottom of the fourth and then the floodgates opened in the home half of the fifth inning. Bobbi Adams (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes), who took over behind the dish in the top of the fourth, smoked a Manchester offering over the fence in center field to kick off the onslaught. Consecutive run-scoring singles by Bollinger, McCrate and Fleshman sent the Spartans packing as Bluffton capped the afternoon off with a second mercy-rule victory.
McCrate went 4-of-4 in game two as the senior finished her day 6-of-7 at the plate. Walters and Dyson both smacked three hits for the victors. Bollinger and Walters drove in three runs apiece, while Dyson and Bollinger both scored three times.
Fleshman went the distance, allowing four runs on six hits with six walks and six strikeouts.
Bluffton will be back at its home field on Sunday, March 28, when the Beavers welcome Hanover College for a pair of non-conference games. The first contest is slated for 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-