Lady Buffs finish third in Fall Classic

from staff reports
MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN -- The Milligan Lady Buffaloes' softball team finished third in this weekend's 12th Annual Milligan College Fall Classic at Winged Deer Park in Johnson City.
On Friday evening, Milligan shut out Cumberland College 3-0 as freshman center fielder Sarah Smith went 3-3 with three stolen bases and scored a run.
The shutout came behind a strong pitching performance from junior Brandy Waddle, who pitched six innings with nine strikeouts, one hit, and not allowing a run.
The next game for the Lady Buffs, also Friday, was against Mars Hill. Milligan won 10-1 with a great effort from sophomore Rebecca Gilley, who went 2-for-2, scoring two runs. Waddle had a great outing on the mound, going five innings with nine strikeouts and giving up one run.
On Saturday, Milligan started the day with ETSU, losing 1-0. Once again, Waddle kept the Buffaloes in the game with great pitching, as ETSU only had three hits through seven innings.
Milligan then took on AAC rival, UVA-Wise, and pulled out a 3-2 victory. The winning pitcher was senior Shelby Banion as she went four innings, scattering five hits and giving up two runs.
Milligan's record in pool play was 3-1, coming in second to ETSU and advancing to the semifinals against Tusculum. The Lady Buffs fell 6-0.
The college division semifinals consisted of Milligan against Tusculum and Emory & Henry against ETSU. ETSU was the only semifinalist to go through pool play undefeated, at 4-0.
The other three teams were 3-1. ETSU defeated Emory & Henry 5-4 to set the championship game up between the Lady Bucs of ETSU against Tusculum. ETSU ran away with the championship game, winning 6-1 behind strong pitching from Belinda Barrera.
In the high school division, Happy Valley fell to Unicoi County 4-3 in their semifinal contest while the Diamond Dodgers defeated the Nissan Panthers 6-1. Both teams reached the championship game with pool records of 3-1.
Unicoi County held an early 2-0 lead, before losing 9-2.
Dodgers' coach Darrell Williams was proud of his girls.
"We played a great game, the hitting and pitching was great," he said.
The Dodgers were led by catcher Chelsie McNew, who went 2-for-3 with two doubles in the championship game and hit over .600 in the tournament.
Milligan head coach Wes Holly was impressed with the tournament.
"It was a great tournament, I heard many great comments," he said. "This is one of the better tournaments and it is good to help build local talent on the high school level."