Buffs beat Bulldogs for 13th straight win
The Milligan University softball team survived a couple of late scares on the way to sweeping Union 4-3 and 6-5 Tuesday afternoon on the road. The wins marked the 12th and 13th straight for the Buffs, who moved to an Appalachian Athletic Conference-best 15-1 (10-0 AAC).
BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (March 16, 2021) – The Milligan University softball team survived a couple of late scares on the way to sweeping Union 4-3 and 6-5 Tuesday afternoon on the road. The wins marked the 12th and 13th straight for the Buffs, who moved to an Appalachian Athletic Conference-best 15-1 (10-0 AAC).
April Alvarado and Katie Cronin both tallied four hits on the day while Kendyl McCollister and Kesney Brown combined for 5.1 scoreless innings pitched.
Game One | Milligan survives late scare, 4-3
Two runs in the fourth inning helped swing the lead, and the Buffs ultimately thwarted a would-be seventh-inning rally. Brown worked around a trio of walks in the final inning after Union brought the tying run to second with one out and the go-ahead run to second with two out.
Cronin had the first of two doubles in the opening inning as part of a 2-for-3 effort. It brought in April Alvarado for the early lead, although Union quickly tied the game in the bottom half of the first then took a 3-2 lead in the third. Savannah Nocera had the RBI of Milligan's second run, driving in Lainey Mays for a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.
Milligan's fourth-inning runs came on a Mays bases-loaded walk followed shortly by a wild pitch which brought home Lindsey Slagle.
Cloee-Anna Merritt made the start inside the circle and went the first two innings. McCollister went the next two innings before Brown closed out the final three. Cronin led the Buffs with two hits.
Game Two | Milligan survives another late scare, 6-5
Milligan looked to be well on its way to an easy win in the nightcap, leading 6-0 through five and a half innings, but Union made it close with a five-run sixth.
Cronin again helped the Buffs get out to an early lead, singling and scoring on a Neelee Griffith single. Grace Jones was then key in the second inning as she hit a two-out triple then scored on a wild pitch.
Milligan continued with runs in the fourth and fifth aided by Union errors, then two more runs in the sixth. All five runs in Union's sixth were unearned, but it still made it a close game. Milligan escaped the jam in the sixth despite two runners on base, then Erin Forgety re-entered for the seventh and worked around a leadoff single.
Forgety made the start and completed the finish with a total of 6.2 innings scattering six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Brown helped the Buffs out of the sixth-inning jam.
At the dish, Alvarado went 3-for-3 while Jones and Cronin each also tallied multiple hits.
Up next
Milligan heads to Georgia for a pair of AAC doubleheaders over the weekend. The Buffs will face Point Saturday at 2 p.m. and Reinhardt Sunday at 1 p.m. The next home game for Milligan is scheduled for the following weekend, Saturday, March 27, against Brenau.