No. 20 Softball hands (RV) Tennessee Wesleyan its first AAC defeat

ATHENS, Tenn. (March 20, 2022) – The No. 20 Milligan University softball team handed Tennessee Wesleyan its first Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) loss of the season as the Buffs and Bulldogs split a Sunday afternoon doubleheader.

Milligan's record moves to 16-7 and 10-4 in AAC play. TWU is now 14-2, 7-1 AAC. The Bulldogs received votes in the most recent NAIA Top 25 poll.

Game 1 – Milligan 4, Tennessee Wesleyan 1

Pitching controlled game one early as the two teams combined for three hits through the first five innings. TWU opened the top of the second inning with a double and sacrificed the runner to third. Erin Forgety struck out the next batter and got the following Bulldog to fly out to left to close the inning.

The Buffs recorded their first hits in the third as April Alvarado and Kate Pendleton smacked back-to-back two-out base hits. A TWU error on a ball off the bat of Grace Jones allowed Alvarado to scamper home and give the Buffs a 1-0 lead.

Forgety retired 12-straight batters from the second inning through the fifth as the Buffs clung to their one-run lead.

With one out in the sixth, McCoy Hensley, Hanna Taylor, Katie Cronin, Neelee Griffith and Bailey Cantroll smacked five consecutive singles to score a pair of runs. An unsuccessful sacrifice bunt turned into a double play to end the inning, but not before the Buffs' lead grew to 3-0.

The Bulldogs notched their second and third hits of the game in the home half of the sixth. TWU led off the inning with a single through the left side and moved the runner to second with a ground out. Another single to the left side brought home a run to make it a 3-1 game with one out. Forgety got the next two batters to ground out and foul out to limit the damage.

Milligan added an insurance run in the seventh after Alvarado singled and moved to third on a two-base error off the bat of Jones. She scored on a two-out infield single by Taylor to built Milligan's edge to 4-1 going into the final half inning.

The seventh inning opened with Cronin gunning down TWU's leadoff batter attempting to stretch a single into a double on a ball hit into left field. After a Bulldog base hit, a 6-4-3 double play secured a Buffs' win and ended the game.

Forgety notched he league-leading ninth win of the season. She allowed just one run on five hits with no walks and two strikeouts in the complete game victory.

Alvarado had two hits and scored twice. Taylor had two hits and one RBI.

Game 2 – Tennessee Wesleyan 1, Milligan 0

Tennessee Wesleyan came out on top in a pitcher's dual in game two. The Buffs were limited to just three hits in the defeat.

Two of Milligan's hits came in the third inning with Alexis Brown and Pendleton knocking base hits, but neither runner got beyond second base as a force out and groundout thwarted the threat.

TWU scored the lone run of the game in the third inning. A single and walk put runners on first and second with nobody out. The Bulldogs got a two-out RBI single as the inning that gave TWU the winning 1-0 margin.

Alvarado had the Buffs' final hit with two outs in the fifth, but was stranded on first.

Cloee-Anna Merritt was tagged with the tough-luck loss as she allowed just one run off six hits in six innings.

Milligan softball is idle this week until Saturday when the Buffs host Reinhardt.