April 28, 2018
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team capped off its 2018 season in style with a 5-1 victory over Rose-Hulman on a cold Saturday, April 28. Bluffton's seniors took center stage as Josie McElroy (Mt. Orab/Western Brown) and Brittany Huff (Clayton/Northmont) both went yard while Jessie Madzia (Massillon/Tuslaw) got it done in the circle as the Beavers finished 9-24 overall and 4-12 in the Heartland Conference.
Huff was a bright spot in game one as she went 3-of-4 with two doubles, giving her 17 for the season. She and Courtney Jasinski (Englewood/Northmont) who also had three hits, drove in two runs apiece. Senior Makenzie Schmidt (Caledonia/River Valley) was 2-of-3 with two runs scored and her school-record 24th stolen base of the season. A three-run fifth had the Beavers in striking distance (7-5) before RHIT tacked on three tallies in the sixth and eight more in the seventh for an 18-5 victory in the lidlifter.
Senior Nicole Thomas (Tontogany/Otsego) fell to 5-11 after surrendering 18 runs on 17 hits in 6.2 innings of work. She struck out one and walked five in her final outing as a Beaver.
A McElroy bomb in the first followed by a Nicole Thomas sacrifice fly in the second made the score 2-0. Rose pulled within 2-1 in the fourth before Huff made the Engineers pay for a dropped popup in the fifth. McElroy reached on a two-out Rose error and Huff drilled the first pitch she saw over the fence in left field for a 4-1 advantage. Senior Mercedes Burns (Ashtabula) got in on the action in the sixth with an RBI triple to the gap in right center, plating Kelsey Reeder (Galion/Northmor). The visitors went down without a whimper in the seventh as Bluffton took the season finale by a 5-1 count.
Madzia navigated around five walks and nine Engineer hits, improving to 3-11 with a complete-game effort. She struck out two and allowed just one earned run as the Beavers wrapped up their 2018 campaign!
-BEAVERS-
