BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University softball team swept Albion College 10-2 and 6-2, running its win streak to four straight, on a chilly Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Bluffton improved to 8-6, while the Britons fell to 9-9 on the season.
A two-out homer put the visitors up 1-0 in the top of the first, but Bluffton responded with a three-run bomb by senior Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee) in the home half of the inning. It was her first long ball of the season and the first of the year surrendered by Albion ace Lilly Zaskowski who entered the day with 84 strikeouts and just six walks in 70.2 innings with a sparkling 1.68 ERA. Grant picked up Taryn Hampton (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) who ripped a one-out triple and Julia Tegeder (Hamilton) who drew a free pass.
Sophomore Tianna Galbraith (Wayne/Elmwood) and freshman Brooklynn Bakle (Paulding) laced hits and both came around to score an inning later as Bluffton went up 5-1 after two frames.
RBI's by Grace Gronberg (Danville) and Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake) made it 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth before sophomore Leah Ramirez (Elida) sent the Bluffton faithful into a frenzy as her three-run dinger to left ended the game (10-2) in mercy-rule fashion. The umpires may have showed up late but the Beavers got game one done early!
Gronberg upped her season mark to 4-2 after tossing a complete game at the Britons. She fanned seven and walked three while allowing just three hits and two runs in six innings of work.
Grant went 2-of-2 with a homer, a double and two walks. She drove in three and scored twice. Ramirez went 3-of-4 with three RBI and Galbraith was 2-for-2 with two doubles. Hampton and Tegeder both scored twice in game one.
The inaction was hot and heavy in the first inning of game two. Bluffton piled up five runs despite getting just one hit as the Britons walked the first five batters and seven before recording the third out! Galbraith's RBI single up the middle was the lone hit for the Beavers in the first.
Junior Ella McCombs (Springfield/Southeastern) opened the third with a base knock and she moved to third thanks to Galbraith's third two-bagger of the day. Game-two starter Klary McKay (Salem/Mahoning County Career Tech Center) helped her own cause with a sacrifice fly that picked up McCombs and she made those six runs stand up while improving to 3-3 on the season. McKay scattered five hits across seven innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Galbraith added two more hits, going 4-of-5 on the day.
Bluffton will be back in Allen County for the tip-off of Heartland Conference action when Earlham College comes to town for a double-dipper on Saturday, March 28. Game one is slated for 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-