BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team welcomed Heidelberg University for the home opener before the home opener on a beautiful Thursday, March 19, 2026. With the Student Princes unable to get on their field yet, Bluffton invited them over for their first games since wrapping up the Florida trip on March 5. It kicks off a run of six straight home doubleheaders for the Beavers. Heidelberg found Allen County to its liking as the visitors swept Bluffton 12-3 and 22-7 in five innings.
A perfect sacrifice bunt by freshman Brooklynn Bakle (Paulding) in the third plated sophomore backstop Reagen O'Brien (Bellbrook), making it 4-1 Heidelberg. She crossed the dish in the sixth before Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) picked up Julia Tegeder (Hamilton), but four Heidelberg homers in the seventh made the final score 12-3.
Sophomore Grace Gronberg (Danville) slipped to 2-2 after surrendering 10 runs on 12 hits in 6.1 innings of work. She struck out five and walked three as the Student Princes mashed five dingers in the opener.
The Beavers rolled up six tallies in the third inning of game two, making it 11-6 while trimming the deficit to five runs. Bakle got it going with an RBI double to the wall in left center, scoring sophomore Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake) who led off the frame with a base hit through the left side. Tegeder drove in Tianna Galbraith (Wayne/Elmwood) and Grant singled home Tegeder before sophomore Leah Ramirez (Elida) delivered a three-run shot to left.
Brentlinger took advantage of a wild pitch in the fourth, but 11 runs for the Princes an inning later helped Heidelberg tie a bow on the five-inning mercy-rule rout.
Ramirez went 2-of-3 with three RBI, while Brentlinger was 2-of-2 with two runs scored.
Junior Colleen Meese (Rocky River) dropped her first decision of the year after allowing 11 runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings for the Beavers. She struck out two and walked four. Heidelberg smacked four more homers in game two, giving the Student Princes nine total on Thursday.
Bluffton will be right back on its home turf Saturday when Kenyon College makes the trip from Gambier. The originally scheduled home opener is set to go off at 1 p.m. on March 21.
-BEAVERS-