Softball finishes season at World Series
The Milligan University softball team wrapped up its historic season with a 3-1 loss to No. 20 Ottawa Friday morning at the NAIA Softball World Series.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Milligan
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
|
Ottawa
|
0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
COLUMBUS, Ga. (May 28, 2021) – The Milligan University softball team wrapped up its historic season with a 3-1 loss to No. 20 Ottawa Friday morning at the NAIA Softball World Series.
Milligan finished the season 32-9 overall (22-4 Appalachian Athletic Conference), winning the AAC regular season for the first time since 2012, advancing to the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round for the third time in the last five seasons, and qualifying for the World Series for the first time in program history.
Another strong defensive effort
Like Thursday's loss to Bethany, Milligan put up a strong defensive effort against Ottawa. Cloee-Anna Merritt pitched the first four innings and allowed scoring in only one frame. She scattered six hits and a walk while allowing just two earned runs (three total).
Ottawa scored two runs on a single in the bottom of the third, then added one more to the lead in the same inning when a two-out double was followed by a single to make it 3-0.
Nocera, Jones account for offense
Savannah Nocera and Grace Jones accounted for both Milligan hits and all of Milligan's scoring. Nocera singled to lead off a scoreless fourth inning before she walked and Jones tripled her home in the sixth inning.
April Alvarado reached to lead off the seventh, representing the tying run at the plate, but Ottawa would retire the next three.
Final facts
Erin Forgety pitched the last two innings and struck out four in a perfect effort.
With the season concluded, Katie Cronin set the Milligan single-season record for batting average with a final mark of .519 (70-for-135). It bettered the previous mark of .495 (61-for-123) set by Kathy Martinelli in 1991. Cronin also ranked No. 1 in the NAIA for average and No. 2 in hits per game.