BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team lost a pair of Senior Day games to Hanover College on a warm Saturday, April 23, 2022. Bluffton slipped to 12-20 overall and 4-8 in the Heartland Conference, while Hanover improved to 12-14 and 7-3 in the HCAC.
Hanover scored twice in the opening frame before a leadoff homer by Lily Tate (Mount Gilead/Northmor), her first of the season, cut the deficit in half. Tate roped a single in the third and Bobbi Adams (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) cashed in with her sixth dinger of the season for a 3-2 Beaver lead!
The home team was six outs away from a victory in game one when the Panthers rallied for two tallies in the top of the sixth and three more in the seventh for a 7-3 win in the lidlifter.
Tate went 2-of-3 with two runs scored. Adams drove in two with her third-inning long ball. Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) allowed just two unearned runs in four innings but did not factor in the decision. Sophomore Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) fell to 1-2 after allowing five runs, two earned, on five hits in three innings of relief.
Game two saw the Beavers dig a 5-0 hole in the first and despite scoring runs in five innings, Bluffton dropped a 20-10 decision when Hanover rolled off nine runs in the seventh.
Junior Sydney Zinkon (Fresno/Ridgewood) singled home Madison Jones (West Milton/Milton Union) in the first and Jones smacked a two-run shot to left following a Tate two-bagger in the third. Adams smoked a two-run single down the left field line in the fifth, making it 10-5 in favor of the Panthers. Tate laced a two-run base knock in the sixth and Adams plated Grace Fillinger (Hinckley/Highland) to give the Beavers life.
Kryshel Dales (Defiance/Ayersville) tripled home Mia McCartney (North Baltimore) and she crossed the dish on an RBI single by Jones, but that was all Bluffton could muster following the nine-run outburst in the top of the seventh.
Adams went 4-of-5 with three runs scored. Jones was a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored. Tate rounded out her five-hit day with a 3-of-4 showing in game two. She scored twice and drove in a pair of runs. McCartney chipped in with two safeties and two runs scored.
Jones fell to 3-5 on the season after surrendering nine runs on 10 hits in four innings of work. She struck out four and walked one batter.
Bluffton is back on its home turn Wednesday afternoon when the Beavers welcome long-time rival Defiance College for a Heartland Conference double feature. Game one is slated for 3:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-
