BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team rolled through the University of Olivet for its first sweep of the season on a chilly Thursday, March 28, 2024. Bluffton improved to 6-14, while the Comets slipped to 1-7 on the year.
Olivet jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in game one, but the Beavers responded with three in the bottom of the first and four more in the second for a commanding 7-2 lead. Bluffton managed three in the first despite not getting a hit. Mia McCartney (North Baltimore) scored on an Olivet miscue and Emily Hope (Enon/Greenon) crossed the dish following a fielder's choice. Kayleigh Michael (Eaton/National Trail) and Julia Tegeder (Hamilton) executed a double steal, making it 3-0 when Michael scurried home.
Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) blasted a two-run shot to straightaway center before Elizabeth Crites (Findlay) picked up Hope and Michael with her run-scoring single up the middle.
Hope singled home Grant in the fourth, giving the Beavers an 8-2 lead. The home team tacked on a pair of crucial insurance runs two innings later thanks to another Michael RBI base knock and a sacrifice fly from Crites as Bluffton wrapped up the lidlifter with a 10-5 victory.
Hayley Lewis (Kettering/Fairmont) improved to 1-6 after limiting the Comets to three runs, one earned, on seven hits in 4.2 innings of work. She struck out three and issued just one free pass.
Grant went 2-of-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Hope scored three times, going 1-of-1 with two hit by pitches. Michael was 2-of-4 with two runs scored, while Crites drove in three.
Bluffton put up a pair of unearned runs in the first inning of game two and never looked back. Grant doubled home McCartney in the fifth and she came around following Hope's single up the middle which made it 4-0.
Back-to-back two-baggers by freshman pinch hitter Halee McDade (Oxford/Talawanda) and Ashley Kloeker (Troy) pushed the lead to 5-0 before McCartney plated Kloeker with her single to center.
Olivet scored one and had the bases loaded when Hope strolled in from the bullpen and induced the game-ending groundout for her first collegiate save! Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) had it going on Thursday, striking out a season-high six for her second straight victory. She walked three and allowed six hits in 6.2 innings of work.
Kloeker was 2-of-3, while McCartney and Grant scored two runs apiece for the victors.
The Beavers are back at home for the HCAC-opening twin-bill with Earlham College on Saturday, March 30. It will also mark the first-ever Heartland Conference softball games for the Quakers! The first pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-