BRISTOL, TN (May 2, 2007) --- The Milligan College softball team started the 2007 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Softball Championship with an extra inning win over Tennessee Wesleyan College, but the Lady Buffs suffered a loss to UVA-Wise in their semifinal contest. Milligan, the No. 4 seed, needed eight innings to defeat No. 5 seed Tennessee Wesleyan 4-3. In their game with AAC co-champion UVA-Wise, Milligan was handed a 6-3 loss to send the Lady Buffs to the losers’ bracket. The Championship is being contested at Whitetop Creek Park in Bristol, Tenn.

The Lady Buffs (31-23) will wait to play the winner between Union (Ky.) College and Montreat (N.C.) College in a losers’ bracket contest at 3 p.m. Thursday. The Union and Montreat game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start.

First Round Milligan 4 Tennessee Wesleyan 3 (8 Innings)

Laken Stewart (Pennington Gap, Va.) delivered a one-out double and a single from the AAC Player of the Year Megan Aldridge (Johnson City, Tenn.) put two runners on base. Jessica Blevins (Elizabethton, Tenn.) came through with a single which allowed Stewart to score the game-winning run.

Tennessee Wesleyan posted two runs in their half of the second inning to take the early lead over the Lady Buffs.

Heather Poindexter (Germanton, N.C.) led the Milligan third inning off with a single and came around to score on a single from Leah Fritts (Knoxville, Tenn.) After Stewart struck out, Aldridge hit her 15^th home run of the season to put Milligan in front 3-2.

Tennessee Wesleyan tied the game 3-3 in the fourth inning.

Jennifer Wise (Clermont, Fla.) pitched six innings and allowed one earned run on five hits for the win on the mound.

At the plate for the Lady Buffs, Aldridge and Blevins each went 2-for-4 with Aldridge’s two RBIs while Blevins added one of her own.

Semifinal Milligan 3 UVA-Wise 6

Milligan used a two-run second inning to take the early lead on UVA-Wise. Blevins led the inning off with a  single and came home on a triple from Leah White (Gray, Tenn.) A sacrifice fly from Mallory Tincher (Jacksonville, Fla.) allowed White to score the second run of the inning.  

UVA-Wise answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the second inning and the AAC co-champions added three more in the third inning to extend their lead to 6-2.

A RBI single from Wise in the fourth inning drove in Tincher cut the deficit down to 6-3. Milligan battled for a run in the top of the seventh when Aldridge scored on White’s RBI single but it was not enough for the Lady Buffs.

Maegan Hambrick (Lexington, Ky.) threw 2 1/3 innings and suffered the loss. She allowed six earned runs on eight hits in the contest. Milligan was led by Blevins’ 3-for-4 game at the plate. She also scored a run while White and Tincher each went 2-for-4.