OLIVET, Mich. - The Bluffton University softball team continued to impress, going on the road for the first time since returning from Florida, and it came home with a convincing sweep of Olivet College on Thursday, April 9, 2026. Bluffton improved to 13-9 following its second consecutive sweep, while Olivet dipped to 2-20 on the season.
Junior Halee McDade (Oxford/Talawanda) lifted a sacrifice fly to right in the top of the second, picking up Leah Ramirez (Elida) and putting Bluffton on top 1-0. A one-out triple for senior Julia Tegeder (Hamilton) followed by three straight walks made it 2-0 an inning later.
The visitors piled up seven hits in the fourth frame, adding up to four runs. Freshman Brooklynn Bakle (Paulding) doubled home McDade and Tegeder followed with a two-run single that picked up Bakle and Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake). Junior Taryn Hampton (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) made it 6-0 with her sacrifice fly that drove in Kaylee Grant (Lima/Shawnee).
Grant and Grace Gronberg (Danville) rapped run-scoring singles in the fifth before another sacrifice fly, this time from Ramirez, as the Beavers capped off game one with a 9-1 mercy-rule victory!
Brentlinger and Tegeder both smacked three hits in the lidlifter as Bluffton pounded out 15 in just five innings. Gronberg and Ramirez chipped in with two safeties apiece. Brentlinger, Tegeder and Grant all scored two times. Ramirez drove in two runs.
Gronberg tossed her third complete-game victory in four days, giving the chair to eight Comets while not issuing any free passes. She limited Olivet to one run on just two hits.
Game two saw the Beavers go out to a nine-run lead mdway through the fourth inning. Bluffton scored two times in the first despite not getting a hit. Grant and Hampton drove in a run apiece on ground balls to third base.
Grant plated Ella McCombs (Springfield/Southeastern) in the third and Ramirez followed with a three-run bomb to left that made it 6-0.
Following base knocks by Klary McKay (Salem/Mahoning County Career Tech Center) and Brentlinger to kick off the fourth, Tegeder cleared the bases with her triple to right and then she scurried home thanks to a sacrifice fly from Grant.
Freshman Hailey Mowell (Cincinnati/Reading) capped off Bluffton's 11-4 victory in the nightcap with her RBI single to right.
Hampton went 3-of-4, while Tegeder was 2-of-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Ramirez and Grant both drove in three runs. Brentlinger scored twice in game two. Freshmen Isabella Dutko (Eastlake/North) and Kailyn Eshbaugh (New Franklin/Manchester) both got into the scoring column.
McKay scattered 10 hits across seven innings, allowing four runs with four strikeouts and only one walk while improving to 5-4 on the season.
Bluffton will return to Beaver country for a Heartland Conference double feature with Berea College on Saturday, April 11. Game one is slated for 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-