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Buffs heading to NAIA opening round for third time in last five seasons

After winning the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular season and ranking as high as No. 19 nationally this season, Milligan University will be the No. 3 seed in the 2021 NAIA Opening Round Lawrenceville Bracket hosted by Georgia Gwinnett College.

Buffs heading to NAIA opening round for third time in last five seasons
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May 12, 2021

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (May 12, 2021) – After winning the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular season and ranking as high as No. 19 nationally this season, Milligan University will be the No. 3 seed in the 2021 NAIA Opening Round Lawrenceville Bracket hosted by Georgia Gwinnett College.

The opening round Lawrenceville bracket is set for Monday-Wednesday, May 17-19, at GGC's Grizzly Softball Complex with the winner advancing to the NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Georgia, May 27-June 2.

Milligan will face No. 2 seed Rio Grande Monday at 2:30 p.m. in the second game of the day. The schedule follows with Milligan playing Tuesday at 12 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. against the winner/loser of the 1v4 matchup between NAIA-No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett and Georgetown, then potentially again at 5 p.m. Wednesday will pit the two remaining teams against each other at 12 p.m. with an "if necessary" game to follow in the double-elimination bracket.

Keys to success

Head Coach Wes Holly, the conference coach of the year for the ninth time in his career, says the Buffs stack up well with the field, and he believes the team's success will depend on hitting.

"I think the pitching down there will be as good as we have faced all season," he says. "The teams that hit the ball well will do well down there. It will come down to run production and clutch hitting. All the teams at this level have good pitching and good defense. Hopefully if we can hit the ball well we will stack up pretty well against these teams."

Milligan's pitching will certainly fit in with what Holly characterized as some of the best. Starting pitchers Erin Forgety (All-AAC second team) and Cloee-Anna Merritt dominated the inside of the circle with a combined ERA of 1.83 and a combined record of 24-6. Forgety (12-4/1.85) struck out 76 and ranks in the top 50 nationally in six statistical categories, including ERA and opposing batting average. Merritt (12-2/1.81) struck out 73 and ranks in the top 50 in walks allowed per game and ERA.

Complementing the strong pitching has been strong hitting, as the Buffaloes bat .336 as a team and boast the nation's batting leader in Katie Cronin. Cronin, the AAC player of the year, is No. 1 nationally in average (.568) and hits per game (1.9). Grace Jones (.425), April Alvarado (.363), Neelee Griffith (.316) and Kate Pendleton (.306) all bat over the .300 mark.

Time to refocus

All of these pieces helped Milligan win the AAC regular season for the first time since 2012, although the success in the regular season did not translate into success in the AAC tournament. There, the Buffaloes went 0-2, losing to eventual tournament champion Brenau in the opening round. Holly says part of the message over the last week of practice has been to refocus.

"We closed the regular season strong and already had our automatic bid," he recalls. "I think with the tournament being moved to the week of finals and knowing we already had the bid going into the tournament, we really didn't get the effort out of the girls like we did during the regular season. But, we've had a break, brought them back, and now we have been practicing and focusing on some things we think we need to focus on. I think the girls are excited, rejuvenated, and ready to go and play."

Past championship teams

With three trips to the opening round in the last five completed seasons, Holly is becoming more and more familiar with the championship stage.

"It is very humbling and satisfying to have this kind of success," he says. "Hopefully it indicates we are bringing in the right fit for Milligan University. We have also had a great amount of help from my assistant Wes Jr. to help the last seven years. It is so much better when you have help you can depend on. It has been very gratifying to have this type of sustained success over the last five years."

Holly notes the talent of each of his championship-qualifying teams.

"Past teams that qualified have been very good teams, but the team this year has really been great because we won the season outright," Holly adds. "The overall talent on this team is deeper than it has been in the past. We can go two and three deep at each position, and that has sustained our effort over the last few seasons to have that kind of depth and success."