BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team notched its second split in as many days thanks to a nine-run seventh in a 16-10 victory over Emmanuel. Clark took game two, 7-3, on a warm Monday, March 2, 2026. Bluffton stands 2-2 heading into its off day before picking back up with a pair of games on Wednesday, March 4.
Emmanuel jumped out to a 5-0 lead in second inning thanks to three walks and two hits. The visitors on the scoreboard responded with four scores in the top of the third. Senior Julia Tegeder (Hamilton) doubled home Taryn Hampton (Fostoria/Hopewell Loudon) before Leah Ramirez (Elida) unloaded the bases with a three-run two-bagger to right center, making the score 5-4.
Grace Garon hit a grand slam for Emmanuel in the fourth and they added another score in the fifth for a seemingly comfortable 10-4 lead heading to the sixth.
A three-run dinger for sophomore Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake) in the top of the sixth cut the deficit in half before the floodgates opened an inning later.
Freshman Klary McKay (Salem/Mahoning County Career Tech Center) was hit by a pitch to open the frame. She crossed the dish following a Ramirez single. Two outs later, Hampton drove in Hailey Lennard (North Baltimore) and Brooklynn Bakle (Paulding), knotting the game at 10-10. Senior Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) lobbed a two-run single down the right field line and Bakle put an exclamation point on it with her second homer in as many days, a three-run shot to left which made it 16-10.
McKay set Emmanuel down in order to close it up, earning her first collegiate victory in the process. She allowed just one run on three hits with two strikeouts in three superb innings of relief. Grace Gronberg (Danville) worked four innings in the start, allowing nine runs on five hits with five strikeouts and five walks.
Grant and Ramirez both smacked three hits in the lidlifter. Brentlinger, Ramirez and Bakle all drove in three runs. Bakle scored three times, while Hampton, Brentlinger, Tegeder, Grant and McKay all crossed the dish twice.
Bluffton rode the momentum to a quick 2-0 lead in game two. Brentlinger and Grant both laced RBI singles in the home half of the first. Clark scored in four of the last five innings, including a four-spot in the fifth. Halee McDade (Oxford/Talawanda) singled home Grant in the sixth, but an outstanding play by Clark left fielder Charlise Quigley with Colleen Meese (Rocky River) at the dish took two runs off the board as the Beavers dropped a 7-3 decision.
Brentlinger, Grant and Ramirez all tallied two safeties against Clark. McKay slipped to 1-2 after allowing five runs, but just two earned, on six hits in 4.1 innings of work. Fellow freshman Jillian Meyer (Mason/William Mason) saw her first action in the circle, tossing 1.1 innings of one-run ball.
The Beavers will enjoy some Florida sun tomorrow before suiting back up for Simmons and Neumann on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., respectively.
-BEAVERS-