TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Bluffton University softball team made the long trip to Rose-Hulman for a Heartland Confernce doubleheader on Saturday, April 12, 2025. Bluffton slipped to 10-16 overall and 0-6 in the Heartland, while RHIT improved to 8-8 and 2-2 in the HCAC.

Trailing 4-0 in the top of the fifth, the Beavers went to work. Three singles from sophomore Aubrey Hudson (Bellefontaine), freshman Reagen O'Brien (Bellbrook) and Riley Hammonds (Russia) got the visitors on the board. Taryn Hampton (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) plated O'Brien with a base knock to left and Grace Gronberg (Danville) followed with an RBI groundout. A Rose error allowed freshman Tianna Galbraith (Wayne/Elmwood) and Mia McCartney (North Baltimore) to corss the dish, making it 5-4 in favor of the good guys.

The Engineers scored in the bottom of the third and again in the fifth, but a Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) run-scoring single in the sixth knotted the score at 6-6. A scoreless seventh set the stage for an international tie-breaker in the eighth inning.

Grant was right in the middle of the action with a two-run double to center field, making it 8-6. However, an error in the bottom of the inning put the home team back in business. Three hits and three runs later, the Engineers had a 9-8 victory in the bank for game one.

O'Brien went 3-of-5 with a run scored, while Grant was 2-of-5 with three RBI. Ella McCombs (Springfield/Southeastern) scored twice in game one.

Gronberg fell to 4-8 after Rose got to her for nine runs on 13 hits in 7.2 innings of work. She fanned eight and walked four.

Game two saw RHIT once again bolt out to a  quick 4-0 lead in the first inning. The home team added a single tally in the fourth before a walk-off grand slam in the fifth made the final score 10-0 thanks to the mercy rule. Grant, Hammonds and Hampton had the only hits in game two.

Hayley Lewis (Kettering/Fairmont) slipped to 4-6 on the season. She gave up nine runs on 12 hits with two walks in 4.1 innings on the bump.

Bluffton will be back on its home turf for Heartland Conference heavyweight Mount St. Joseph on Tuesday, April 15. Game one is slated for 3:30 p.m.

-BEAVERS-