Game 1 stats: http://www.bluffton.edu/sports/softball/2012/04-10-s1.htm
I Game 2 stats: http://www.bluffton.edu/sports/softball/2012/04-10-s2.htm

On a cold and blustery afternoon in which the teams combined to keep the statistician busy with 20 errors, the Bluffton University softball team managed to walk away with a sweep of rival Defiance College on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. The Beavers improved to 18-12 on the season and 6-2 in the Heartland Conference, while Defiance fell to 7-22 overall and 4-6 in the HCAC.

After trading single runs in the second inning of game one, Bluffton jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the top of the third. Emily Manahan (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) doubled home Chelsie Osborne (Chillicothe/Waverly) before Lindsay Robertson (Cincinnati/Northwest) picked up Manahan and Katie Clark (New Palestine, Ind.) with a base hit. Shelby Wade (Delaware/Buckeye Valleye) made the score 5-1 with an RBI single up the middle.

The home team took advantage of two Bluffton errors in both the fifth and sixth, putting up three runs in each inning as the Yellow Jackets took a 7-6 lead into the final frame.

With one out in the top of the seventh, pinch hitter Mackenzie Bedlion (Marshallville/Smithville) reached on one of Defiance's three errors in the game. Alexandra Haugh (Highland, Ind./Andrean) re-entered for Bedlion and moved up 60 feet on a wild pitch. Wade picked Haugh up with a single to center, tying the game at 7-7. Meagan Price (Toledo/Springfield) knocked in Wade with what turned out to be the game winner on another hit to center.

Starter Megan Patton (Waynesfield/Perry), who went back to the circle with two outs in the sixth, worked around a leadoff walk and Bluffton error in the seventh to nail down her sixth victory of the season with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game. She fanned nine and walked five in 6.1 innings of work. Patton and Chloe Shell (Covington) allowed seven runs, however, none were earned as the Beavers committed six errors.

Manahan was a perfect 4-of-4 with a double, two RBI and one run scored. Clark went 3-of-4, while Price and Wade both tallied two hits. Robertson and Wade drove in two runs apiece and Osborne scored twice.

Bluffton was unable to take advantage of doubles by Meagan Price and Katie Clark in the first inning of game two as a double play erased Price. Defiance used a couple Bluffton errors to go ahead 2-0 in the bottom half of the frame.

The home team coughed it up four times in the top of the third as Bluffton scored five times to make the score 5-2. Osborne, Robertson and Jessica Kuzara (Flat Rock, MI/Huron) all drove in runs in the third.

A couple tallies for Defiance in the bottom half made it a one-run game.

Single runs in the fourth and sixth made it 7-4 Bluffton heading to the final inning. Kuzara and Wade both doubled home runs in the top of the seventh as Bluffton opened up a 10-4 margin. The Yellow Jackets made it interesting with three hits and two more Bluffton errors, but the Beavers held on for a 10-7 victory in the nightcap.

Wade was 4-of-4 with three runs scored and one RBI and both she and Emily Manahan finished the day 6-for-8. Kuzara, who had two RBI, and Price were 2-of-4 while Emily Kolezynski (Strongsville) finished 2-of-3 with a run scored. She also picked up her first career win, working four innings of relief. The freshman allowed three runs, just one earned, on four hits, three of which came in the final inning.

Bluffton will look to stay in the Heartland Conference race when the Beavers travel to Franklin College on Saturday, April 14, 2012. The first contest with the Grizzlies is slated for 1 p.m.