CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team was on the wrong end of a sweep at the hands of Case Reserve for the second straight weekend. The Spartans won 11-2 in five innings and then 13-10 in seven as Bluffton fell to 5-15 on the season, while Case improved to 18-6 overall.
The visitors went up 2-0 in the top of the first when senior Taylor Steinke (Findlay) doubled home Lily Tate (Mount Gilead/Northmor) and then she crossed the dish courtesy of a Case error with Taylor Shimp (St. Marys/Memorial) at the plate. The celebration was muted when the home team put up four in the bottom of the frame. Case added one in the second and six more in the third en route to the 11-2 mercy-rule victory in five innings.
Seniors Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) and Riley Langstaff (Findlay) finished with two hits apiece. Junior Grace Fillinger (Hinckley/Highland) fell to 1-6 after allowing 10 runs on 10 hits in just 2.1 innings of work. Senior Katie McCord (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) closed it out for Beavers, limiting Case to one run over the final 1.2 innings.
Case led 9-1 through three innings before the Bluffton offense got some traction in game two. Bowen's two-run double to left center in the fourth followed an RBI single by Tate as Bluffton pulled within three runs at 8-5. Bryn Cisco (Lancaster/Fairfield Union) scored on a wild pitch in the fifth, but Case added two runs in the home half and three more an inning later for a 13-6 lead heading to the seventh frame.
Bluffton went to work in the final inning, rapping four hits to go along with a pair of Spartan errors as the Beavers forced Case to bring their ace, Sidney Brannam, back in to close the door as Bluffton put a four-spot on the scoreboard. Freshman Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) and Brianna Baker (Defiance/Ayersville) drove in runs as Bluffton kept battling. A Lexus Rutledge (Henderson, KY/Henderson County) single to center plated Fleshman and Emily Dyson (Payne/Wayne Trace), making it 13-10, but Brannan nailed down her second save of the season with a pair of punchouts to end the threat.
Sophomore Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) slipped to 2-4 after giving up four runs on five hits in one inning of work. Tate and Felshman both finished with two hits for the visitors, while Bowen and Rutledge added two RBI apiece.
The Beavers will be back at Bluffton Field on Wednesday, April 14, when they welcome Mount St. Joseph for a pair of Heartland Conference clashes. The first contest is slated for 3:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-