BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team notched a split with Calvin College on Friday, March 18, 2022. The Beavers downed a Calvin team that has been to the NCAA Tournament the last three times it was staged, 3-2 in game two, as Bluffton beat the Knights and stayed in front of the rain by starting the double feature at 1 p.m. The home team moved to 4-8 on the season, while Calvin dipped to 7-5 overall.
Game one saw the visitors pile up 15 hits in a 9-1 dismantling of Bluffton. The Beavers left seven runners stranded before finally cracking the scoring column in the bottom of the seventh when junior Lily Tate (Mount Gilead/Northmor) plated freshman Mia McCartney (North Baltimore) with a single to right field.
Junior Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) fell to 1-5 after surrendering nine runs on 15 hits in 6.1 innings. She did not walk a batter. Grace Fillinger (Hinckley/Highland) got the final two outs to stop the bleeding after Calvin pushed five runs across in the seventh inning. Tate went 2-of-3 and drew a free pass.
A bases loaded walk put Calvin up 1-0 in the top of the first to open game number two, but Bluffton responded with three tallies in the home second. McCartney reached when a throw to first got away and the Beavers capitalized with three unearned runs. Bluffton tied it on a Hayley Lewis (Kettering/Fairmont) RBI single to left and Bryn Cisco (Lancaster/Fairfield Union) followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt that sent Lexus Rutledge (Henderson, KY/Henderson County) scampering home. Tate made it 3-1 when her two-bagger went to the wall in left center as Lewis crossed the dish.
A hit by pitch with the sacks full in the third made it 3-2 Bluffton, but Fillinger came strolling out of the bullpen and that was that! She tossed five shutout innings, allowing just two hits with two strikeouts on the way to her first decision of the year (1-0). The Knights finished game two with only two safeties. Rutledge went 2-of-3, collecting half of Bluffton's four hits.
The Beavers will be back in action on Tuesday, March 22, when they welcome Adrian College for the first of three straight home doubleheaders next week. Game one with the Bulldogs is slated for 3:30 p.m. and the Beavers will be back at Bluffton field for a pair of games against Otterbein University the following afternoon.
-BEAVERS-
