BLUFFTON 2, CASE 1...
BLUFFTON, OH (March 28, 2005) – Despite seven strikeouts from pitcher Amanda Bell (Carroll, OH), the Case Western Reserve softball team dropped their first of two games to Bluffton University 2-1 in eight innings.
The first game was a pitcher's dual with all the action taking place in the eighth inning. The two teams battled through seven scoreless innings to bring about extra innings. As a rule in extra inning games, the first hitter is placed on second base. Therefore Bell, who led off the inning for Case, was placed on second base. An error moved her to third and Lauren Seeds (Pickerington, OH) then singled to center to drive Bell in and put the Spartans up 1-0. It looked liked Case might break it open with Seeds on first and Leah Shook (Poughkeepsie, NY) moving to third with no outs, but Bluffton was able to get the next three Spartan hitters out to end the rally.
In the bottom-half of the inning Bluffton advanced their runner from second to third on a ground out. Carrie Weisbecker then scored from third on a passed ball by Case catcher Elisha Bierman (LaGrange, OH). A single and two walks loaded the bases for Bluffton with two outs when Mandy Snider singled to right field to drive in the game-winning run for the Beavers.
Bell pitched 7.2 solid innings for Case as she gave up just two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks in addition to her seven strikeouts. Besides her pitching, Bell also led the Spartans from the plate with two hits. The loss dropped Case to 3-10 on the season, while Bluffton improved to 7-4.
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