OBERLIN, Ohio  - The Bluffton University softball team got hot in game two, earning a split at Oberlin College on a cold and snowy Sunday, March 17, 2024. Bluffton improved to 2-12 on the season, while the home team stands 1-5 overall.

Samantha Pinedo singled home Wren Norris in the fifth inning of game one and that was the only run scored in the lidlifter as Hayley Lewis (Kettering/Fairmont) and Hailey Alspach went toe to toe in the circle. Lewis scattered six hits over six innings with just one walk, but Alspach tossed a three-hit shutout for her second victory of the season.

Mia McCartney (North Baltimore), Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) and Emily Hope (Enon/Greenon) notched hits for the visitors in the opener.

The Beavers bounced back with a vengeance in game two, scoring runs in all five innings! Sophomore Riley Hammonds (Russia) launched a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, scoring McCartney, and then freshman Taryn Hampton (Fostoria/Hopewell Loudon) doubled home Grant for her first hit of the season!

Senior Kryshel Dales (Defiance/Ayersville) led off the second with a triple and she made it 3-0 when McCartney singled to third. The floodgates opened an inning later when Dales found herself in the middle of the action once again. Her two-bagger to left center cleared the bases and then she scurried home thanks to McCartney's sacrifice fly.

Hampton's second hit of the day plated Grant in the fourth and Hope helped herself with a two-run single an inning later. She closed it out with two scoreless frames on the way to her second win of the season. Hope allowed just one run on six hits in the five-inning mercy-rule victory!

Hampton and McCartney both smacked two hits in the the finale. Dales stuffed the stat sheet, going 2-of-3 with three runs scored, two RBI, a triple and a double. Hampton, Hope and McCartney all drove in two runs for the Beavers, while Grant scored twice.

Bluffton will now return to Allen County with the home opener next on the agenda. The Beavers welcome Asbury University on Friday, March 22, at 3:30 p.m. before a second doubleheader of the weekend with Albion at 1 p.m. on Saturday!

-BEAVERS-