BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball rallied twice for a sweep of Anderson University on a humid Sunday, April 28, 2024. The Beavers snapped a 16-game skid and improved to 8-30 overall and 2-14 in the Hearland Conference. Anderson fell to 6-24 on the season and 2-12 in the HCAC.
Doubles by Mia McCartney (North Baltimore) and Hayley Lewis (Kettering/Fairmont) put Bluffton up 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Anderson bounced back with a score in the fourth and two more in the fifth for a 3-1 lead over the home team.
With Bluffton still trailing by two, the sixth inning proved friendly to the Beavers as everything went their way! Elizabeth Crites (Findlay) rapped a two-run double to left center that plated Ashley Kloeker (Troy) and Kryshel Dales (Defiance/Ayersville). Mia McCartney (North Baltimore) scurried home with the go-ahead run following a Kayleigh Michael (Eaton/National Trail) base knock.
Michael drew a walk with the bags full of Beavers, pushing Emily Hope (Enon/Greenon) across the dish. Dales then ripped a shot that was to hot to handle for the Anderson shortstop, sending Julia Tegeder (Hamilton) and Ella McCombs (Springfield/Southeastern) crashing home for a commanding 7-3 lead!
Lewis closed it out for her second victory of the season. She allowed just three runs on nine hits in a complete-game effort. The junior helped her cause with a 3-of-4 game at the plate that included two RBI. McCartney, who scored twice, and Crites, who drove in two runs, added two hits apiece.
Game two fired off with a bang as both teams batted around in the first inning. Anderson led 5-4 when the game headed to the second frame 30 minutes later. Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) doubled home McCartney and Riley Hammonds (Russia) picked up Hope with a single to right. Grant crossed the dish on a double play and Dales scurried home courtesy of a passed ball.
Bluffton knotted it at 6-6 with RBI singles from Michael and Dales in the second. Two Anderson runs had the Beavers up against it in the home seventh, but they were up to the task. Following a second Grant double, Hailey Lennard (North Baltimore) took over on the bases. She moved to third on a Hammonds single and then trotted home thanks to an errant Anderson pickoff attempt at first base. Tegeder plated McCombs with her sacrifice fly to center, sending the game to extra innings.
Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) induced a pair of popups following a sacrifice bunt, keeping Anderson off the scoreboard with the international tie-breaker in play. Kloeker stole third in the bottom of the inning and Crites delivered the game winner with a base hit to right!
Grant, Michael, Hammonds and Dales all smacked multiple hits in game two, while McCartney and Grant scored two runs apiece. Fleshman worked three shutout innings of relief, improving to 3-14 on the season. The senior allowed just two hits with one walk.
Bluffton will tie a bow on its 2024 season when Hanover College comes to town on Saturday, May 4, following graduation. Game one is slated for 3 p.m.
-BEAVERS-
