MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (May 11, 2007) --- Despite entering the 2007 NAIA Region XII Softball Tournament as the No. 3 seed, the Lady Buffs of Milligan College finished second in the tournament to UVA-Wise. The Lady Buffs fought back through the losers’ bracket to reach the championship game but was unable to defeat the co-Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) regular season champions, UVA-Wise, to earn a bid to the NAIA Softball National Championship.

UVA-Wise scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning against Milligan to take the lead and the championship. Milligan fell behind early when the Lady Cavs scored a run in the second and third innings. The Lady Buffs tied the game 2-2 with a two-run home run from All-Region XII team member Jessica Blevins (Elizabethton, Tenn.) in the fourth inning. Senior Megan Aldridge (Johnson City, Tenn.), the Region XII Player of the Year, drew a walk to start the inning and was on base when Blevins hit her home run.

Milligan took the lead in the sixth inning when Leah White (Gray, Tenn.) singled to drive in Leah Fritts (Knoxville, Tenn.) However UVA-Wise answered with two runs in their half of the seventh inning to win the tournament and end the season for Milligan. The Lady Buffs ended the 2007 season with a 35-26 record to go along with their runner-up finish in the NAIA Region XII Tournament.

To reach the championship game, Milligan had to knock off No. 1 seed and co-AAC regular season champs, Union (Ky.) College. Union jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Lady Buffs in the first inning. The Lady Buffs cut the lead in half in the third inning with a run and then took a 3-2 lead after Laken Stewart (Pennington Gap, Va.) delivered a two-out, two-run home run in the fourth inning. Milligan added an insurance run in the fifth inning when Aldridge scored on a RBI single from Melanie Strickler (Kingsport, Tenn.) Union scored in the seventh inning to make the final score 4-3 in favor of Milligan.

Milligan scored all five of their runs against Brescia (Ky.) University in the first two innings for their 5-1 win in their final game on Wednesday, a losers’ bracket contest. In the first inning, Stewart led off with a home run. In the second inning Fritts drove in three runs with a double and she came home on a double from Blevins.

In their first losers’ bracket game, Milligan send Spalding (Ky.) University home with a 12-3 win. A RBI double from Blevins started a two-run first inning for the Lady Buffs and she later scored on a single from Aldridge. Blevins led off the third inning with a double followed by White’s RBI double and then White scored on a single from Holly Napier (Pennington Gap, Va.) to make the score 4-1 after three innings. The Lady Buffs’ bats did not go quiet in the fourth inning because Blevins hit a solo home run and Mallory Tincher (Jacksonville, Fla.) hit a two-run blast to push the lead out to 7-1. Tincher drove in another run in the sixth then Aldridge hit her 16^th home run of the season, a three-run shot, in the seventh. Milligan added another run in the frame for the 12-3 win. Blevins finished the game 4-for-5 with four runs scored, two RBIs and two doubles while Aldridge was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Tincher went 2-for-4 with three RBIs of her own. Jessica Russell (New Market, Tenn.) contributed a 2-for-4 performance at the plate and scored a run.

UVA-Wise sent the Lady Buffs to the losers’ bracket with a 7-2 loss. The only runs for Milligan came in the form of a two-run home run from Blevins in the sixth inning.

Milligan started the Region XII Tournament with a convincing 11-0 win over Brescia. The Lady Buffs posted ten of their 11 runs in the first three innings. Blevins was only 2-for-4 but she made her two hits count. She hit a two-run and three-run home run to help the cause. Stewart finished 2-for-2 with four runs scored, two stolen bases, a double and home run. Fritts started the tournament with a 2-for-3 game at the plate and scored two runs while Aldridge scored two runs of her own and drove in one.