Lady Buffs dismantle Bluefield

from staff reports

   The Milligan College Lady Buffs softball team swept Bluefield (Va.) College in Appalachian Athletic Conference action by the scores of 6-1 and 9-3 Friday afternoon.
   With the wins, Milligan moves to 20-10 overall and 6-2 in the AAC.
   In the first game, the Lady Buffs opened a one-run lead in the second inning as junior first baseman Brooke Davis led the inning off by being hit by a pitch and moving to second on a wild pitch. Junior pitcher Traci Harrison scored Davis with her base hit.
   In the fourth inning, Milligan added two more runs as freshman Ashley Mashburn led the inning off with a single and Davis reached with a fielder's choice.
   Senior Shelby Banion's bunt single loaded the bases for Harrison. Mashburn scored on Harrison's walk and sophomore Rebecca Gilley was hit by a pitch to bring Davis around to score.
   Bluefield scored its run in the fifth inning as Chasity Bass was brought home on Mallory Hart's single.
   Milligan would extend the lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning as freshman Amanda Verner led the inning off by walking and freshman Leah Fritts was hit by a pitch. Mashburn moved Verner and Fritts over to third and second respectively with her ground out.
   Verner scored on Davis' ground out to second base. Banion executed the squeeze play to allow Fritts to score.
   The Lady Buffs would add another run in the sixth inning. Freshman third baseman Megan Aldridge reached first with a lead off walk and moved to second as Verner reached safely on an error by the Lady Rams' third baseman Sandy Turner.
   Both moved up a base each on a passed ball which allowed Aldridge to tag and score on Fritts' sacrifice fly to leftfield.
   In game one, Traci Harrison picked up the victory as she pitched seven innings allowing one earned run on only two hits with 11 strikeouts. Morgan Tomlinson suffered the loss going six innings and giving up six runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
   At the plate for Milligan in game one, Traci Harrison was 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs.
   In game two, Milligan started where they left off by scoring two runs in the first inning. Amanda Verner led things off with a single and error to reach second base.
   After a wild pitch, Verner was on third and came home on Courtney Ruth's ground out. Shelby Banion would reach with a walk and steal second base. Brooke Davis scored Banion with her single into rightfield.
   The Lady Buffs added more runs in the second inning. Freshman Sarah Smith started the offense with a double followed by a walk to Brandy Waddle.
   Verner loaded the bases with her bunt single. Smith scored as Ruth was walked and Waddle along with Verner scored on Banion's double. A passed ball scored both Ruth and Banion.
   Bluefield scored a run in the fourth and sixth innings. In the fourth, Morgan Tomlinson scored on Kelly Brown's single and in the sixth inning, Tomlinson scored on an error by Milligan shortstop Brandy Waddle.
   Milligan answered the come back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Waddle earned a lead off walk and moved to second on Verner's sacrifice bunt. Ruth flew out to the leftfielder and with Sandy Turner's error on the ball hit by Banion, Waddle scored. Banion scored on a double off Brooke Davis' bat.
   The Rams would score another run in the seventh inning as Mallory Hart scored on the Lady Buffs catcher, Shelby Banion's throwing error.
   In the victory, Brandy Waddle pitched five innings giving up two runs; one run was earned on three hits with six strikeouts.
   At the plate for Milligan, Shelby Banion went 1-for-,2 scoring three runs with two RBIs and a walk. Both Amanda Verner and Brooke Davis went 2-for-4. Verner scored two runs, while Davis had two RBIs.
   Next for the Lady Buffs will be a trip to Bristol, Va. to play Virginia Intermont in Appalachian Athletic Conference action Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.