Softball gears up for 29th annual fall classic

MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Sept. 10, 2019) – The Milligan College softball team will host its 29th annual softball fall classic Saturday and Sunday at Winged Deer Park in Johnson City, Tennessee.

The tournament is scheduled to begin on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 8 a.m., and finish on Sunday, Sept. 15, at 5 p.m. with the championship game for the travel ball portion of the tournament. The tournament is split between college teams and showcase travel ball teams ages 16-18.

Including Milligan, there will be nine college teams at the tournament ranging from NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, Junior College and NAIA levels. The teams include, Anderson University, Walters State, Enterprise State, Montreat, King University, Milligan, ETSU, Tusculum and University of Pikeville.

"I am excited for our team to compete in this tournament," said head coach Wes Holly. "We feel like our players will have a good experience and get to experience competition on multiple levels. This also gives us the opportunity to give our new girls some college game experience and see what we need to work on going into winter workouts."

Milligan is scheduled for four games during the tournament, two on each day. On Saturday they will play Enterprise State at 3 p.m. and Walters State at 5 p.m. On Sunday they will play Anderson University at 1 p.m. and University of Pikeville at 5 p.m.

This is the first stop for the Buffs for their fall preseason. They will play ETSU on Thursday, Sept. 26, play Walters State again on Oct. 6, and travel to Boone, North Carolina, to play Appalachian State University and Lenoir Rhyne on Oct. 20. Milligan's regular season schedule will begin on Feb. 12 at Johnson University.

The Buffs finished last season 22-18 (16-10 AAC). They made a run in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament and were the runners-up in the tournament.