April 3, 2015
By: Ryan Schadewald, sports information assistant
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team kept its momentum rolling and swept a doubleheader over a Case Western Reserve squad that shared the UAA conference championship in 2014. The Beavers won game one, 11-7, before quashing a seventh-inning rally to take the nightcap, 3-2. Bluffton improved its record to 13-12, while Case Reserve dropped to 16-7 on the campaign.
Looking down the barrel of a 7-0 deficit heading into the top of the fifth and just three outs and a Case run from a mercy-rule shellacking, the Bluffton women answered the call emphatically with five runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth to stun the host Spartans, 11-7, in game one on Good Friday! Case dropped four on the Beavers in the first and added another in the second to take a quick 5-0 lead. The Beaver offense continued to struggle, garnering just one hit through four innings, while Case Western added two more runs to make it 7-0.
However, the Bluffton offense woke up in the fifth, scoring five runs, including two RBI apiece for Brittany Baker (Springboro) and Carly Levindofske (Brunswick/Magnificat) to pull within 7-5 after five innings. The sixth was almost a carbon copy of the fifth for the Beavers as the visitors tallied six runs, highlighted by a two-run single from Josie McElroy (Mt. Orab/Western Brown) that pushed across the go-ahead run.
Senior Emily Kolezynski (Strongsville) came on and threw four innings of relief to pick up the win, improving to 2-0 on the season. She gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out one. Chloe Shell (Covington) started and gave up five runs in three innings for a no-decision. The offense was highlighted by Levindofske’s 3-for-4 effort with three RBI. Ariana Muffo (New Athens, Ill./New Athens) also tallied two hits and scored twice for the Beavers.
The pitching would take center stage in the nightcap as the Beavers picked up the 3-2 victory. The visitors scored the first run of the contest with an RBI double from Muffo, scoring Jo Bondra (Highland Heights/Mayfield) for a 1-0 lead. The Beavers added another in the fifth with a solo shot from Brittany Huff (Clayton/Northmont) to make it 2-0.
Jess Kuzara (Flat Rock, Mich./Huron) launched a solo bomb of her own, leading off the fifth inning to make it 3-0 Beavers. Case battled back in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer by Dreger to cut it to 3-2, but Emily Sculpholm (Cuyahoga Falls/Our Lady of the Elms) induced three straight groundouts to end the contest as Bluffton completed the sweep.
Jessie Madzia (Massillon/Tuslaw) picked up a victory (4-5), throwing four scoreless innings and giving up just four hits while walking two. Emily Sculpholm secured her second save of the season despite giving up the homer in the seventh. Jo Bondra led the offense, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, but Kuzara and Huff’s solo homers turned out to be the big difference in the victory.
The Beavers return to HCAC action on Saturday, April 4, as they take on the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for a doubleheader in Terre Haute, Ind. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. The Beavers will return home to play two more on Tuesday, April 7, at 3:30 p.m. against rival Defiance College. Come support your Beavers!
-BEAVERS-
