Team on 11 game winning streak; ranked 24th in nation
By Ben Risinger, SID
April 5, 2004
The Bluffton College softball team (16-2, 4-0 HCAC) currently lead the Heartland Conference and are ranked 24th in the country by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association in their March 28th poll. The Beavers are on an 11-game winning streak heading into a week with two difficult conference doubleheaders. Bluffton beat Manchester 2-1 and 3-1 in HCAC play and defeated Rochester College 7-1 and 9-0 in action last week.
Junior Allison Lange (Archbold/Archbold) leads the team in hitting with a .529 batting average, runs (19), hits (27), doubles (5), a single triple, three home runs, total bases (43) and RBI’s (16). She consistently ranks among the top of the HCAC in several batting categories. Mandy Snider, Michelle Metzger and Sarah Betts all post batting averages of .300 or above for the Beavers. Junior catcher Michelle Pleiman (Yorkshire/Minster) leads Bluffton with only four errors in 158 putouts for the season for a .977 fielding percentage.
The Beaver pitcher, sophomore Sarah Betts (Bryan/Bryan) leads Bluffton with a 0.33 ERA and a 15-1 record from the mound for the season. Betts picked up her sixth shutout of the year in the Beavers 8-0 win over Rochester. For the season she has struck out 142 batters in 104.2 innings pitched, giving up only 39 hits, 13 walks and 13 runs. She leads the Heartland Conference in ERA, opposing batting average, innings pitched, strikeouts, strikeouts looking and total wins.
As a team, the Beavers post a .268 batting average and .340 slugging percentage. Bluffton posts 34 errors defensively for a .930 fielding percentage.
Bluffton will be back in action this Tuesday when they host Thomas More for a doubleheader. Start time is scheduled for 3:30 pm. The Beavers then travel to Mount St. Joseph on Friday (3 pm) and Transylvania on Saturday (1 pm) for two HCAC doubleheaders.
