Softball ends season in AAC Tournament

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (April 29, 2023) – The Milligan University softball team fell 5-2 to Truett McConnell in the elimination bracket at the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

TMU opened the scoring with an inside the park home run in the top of the first inning. The Bears extended their lead with a two-out bases-clearing triple in the top of the third to go ahead 4-0.

Milligan put a runner on second base each of the first three innings but was unable to bring home the Buffs' first run.

The Buffs broke through in the bottom of the fourth with Kate Pendleton and Bailey Cantrell knocking base hits. Facing a 0-2 count with one out, McCoy Hensley singled up the middle to bring home Pendleton to make it a 4-1 ballgame. The Buffs left runners stranded on second and third to end the inning.

The Bears responded with a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth to go ahead 5-1. TMU left runners on the corners as Milligan ended the half inning with a flyout to center field.

With two outs and a runner on in the sixth, Hensley smacked a deep fly ball to left that was tracked down just in front of fence.

The Buffs loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Bree Presnell scored on a groundout of the bat of Katie Cronin to make it a 5-2 ballgame before a strikeout ended the contest.

Jones and Pendleton each had two hits. Erin Forgety stranded 10 TMU runners as she allowed five earned runs on 14 hits. Four of TMU's five runs came with two outs.

Milligan ends the season at 21-14 while the Bears advanced in the elimination bracket.