Softball sweeps Johnson behind strong pitching, hitting
A 4-for-4 effort from Lainey Mays in game one followed by 10 strikeouts in a near-perfect game from Cloee-Anna Merritt in game two led the Milligan University softball team to a twin bill sweep at Johnson University Thursday evening. Milligan won 9-1 and 9-0, both enforcing the run rule in the sixth inning.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 25, 2021) – A 4-for-4 effort from Lainey Mays in game one followed by 10 strikeouts in a near-perfect game from Cloee-Anna Merritt in game two led the Milligan University softball team to a twin bill sweep at Johnson University Thursday evening. Milligan won 9-1 and 9-0, both enforcing the run rule in the sixth inning.
Milligan won its third straight game to improve to 5-1 on the season.
Mays, Miller keys to game-one victory
Mays singled and scored in the first inning before Karsten Miller singled and scored in the second inning of the opener. It proved to be all the scoring the Buffs would need, although they tacked on four more runs in the second inning as part of a five-spot. Miller then added another RBI single in the fifth and April Alvardo had a sacrifice fly in the sixth to help put the run rule into effect.
Mays also saw two innings of relief inside the circle as she pitched the fifth and sixth, following a four-inning start from Kesney Brown. Brown went four shutout innings with four hits, no walks and five strikeouts.
Merritt slings near-perfect game to complete sweep
It took until the second time through the lineup of game two for the Buffs to get rolling in the nightcap, but once they got rolling, they put the game away thanks to several big innings. Mays again started the scoring with a two-run dinger to make it 2-0. The Buffs added three runs in the fourth and four runs in the sixth.
Merritt went the distance for her second straight start in as many days. She struck out 10 and walked none, allowing only one hit in the six innings of work. Merritt faced only one over the minimum on a two-out single in the bottom of the first. She sat down the next 16 in order to go perfect over her last five and one-third innings of work.
Up next
Weather pending, Milligan plays Alice Lloyd Sunday at 1 p.m. in a twin bill on Anglin Field.