BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team downed Albon College 5-2 in game two, notching a split with the Britons on a windy Monday, March 25, 2024. Bluffton improved to 4-14 on the season, while the visitors stand 10-6 overall.
A two-run single for Riley Hammonds (Russia) followed by a two-run double from Kayleigh Michael (Eaton/National Trail) gave the Beavers a cool 4-0 lead after inning one.
While the offense dried up for Bluffton, it blossomed for the Britons as the visitors put crooked numbers up in each of the next four innings en route to a 13-4 mercy-rule victory. Albion scored two, four, two and five runs to close out game one in five innings.
Mia McCartney (North Baltimore), Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) and Hammonds all smacked two safeties in the lidlifter. Hammonds and Michael both drove in two runs for the Beavers.
Junior Hayley Lewis (Kettering/Fairmont) fell to 0-6 after allowing 10 runs on 11 hits in four innings of work. She walked three in the game one setback.
Grant continued her torrid hitting with a double down the left field line in the first inning of game two. Michael followed with an RBI single for a 1-0 Bluffton lead.
The Beavers took advantage of three Albion errors in the fourth inning, plating four runs for a 5-0 spread. Julia Tegeder (Hamilton) laced an RBI single before Taylor Born (Mt. Cory/Cory-Rawson) executed a perfect squeeze bunt that sent Ashley Kloeker (Troy) scurrying home. McCartney's two-bagger to center plated Tegeder for the fourth unearned run of the inning.
Albion scored single runs in the fifth and seventh, but Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) continued to deal in the circle. She set down four Britons in a complete-game seven hitter. The senior struck out four and walked three, allowing just two runs while improving to 1-7 on the season.
McCartney added two hits in game two, giving her four on Monday afternoon.
Bluffton is back at home on Thursday, March 28, when the Beavers welcome Olivet College for another doubleheader with a school from the MIAA. Game one is slated for 3:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-