KINGSPORT, Tenn. (April 24, 2014) â€" Facing the second elimination game of the day, Milligan College's softball team came up on the short end of a 9-4 decision to Bryan College in the AAC tournament at Domtar Park on Thursday.
 
The loss came after Milligan (22-17, 16-4 AAC) rallied from behind twice to beat Point University 7-4 in the first game of the day.
 
Bryan game
 
Milligan led 2-0 through the first three innings thanks to a Natalie Sheffey two-out single in the first and a Jessica Wheelock solo home run in the third. But Bryan used a grand slam in the fourth to take the lead and a pair of solo shots in the sixth to help put the game away.
 
Bryan third baseman Mariam Wood accounted for one of the solo homers and the grand slam as she finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs and five RBI's. Her fourth-inning slam came on a 2-2 pitch with two out. It made it 4-2 in favor of Bryan, but Kimberly Robinson answered in the bottom half with a two-run, pinch-hit homer that tied the game at four. Robinson sent hers the opposite way on a 2-2 count with two gone in the inning.
 
After Robinson's game-tying homer, Milligan's bats were silenced over the last three innings, and Bryan added two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth. Wood hit her second home run of the game to lead off the sixth, and Katelyn Bowen followed with her own long ball two batters later. Meanwhile, Milligan only managed one base runner in each of the last three innings.
 
Sheffey, a sophomore transfer, finished the game 3-for-3 with an RBI while Krista Lambdin and Jessica Connatser both finished with two hits.
 
Starting pitcher Chancli Connatser threw all seven innings and suffered the loss. She gave up nine earned runs on 11 hits and three walks while striking out one.
 
Point game
 
Starting pitcher Jessica Goodson gave up an unearned run in the first but helped her own cause with a two-run double which gave Milligan the lead in the second. The lead was short lived, however, as Point tagged the freshman left-hander with two runs in the third to regain the advantage, 3-2.
 
It wasn't until Lambdin, Wheelock and Taylor McGinnis led off the top of the fifth with three straight hits to start a four-run rally that Milligan was able to take control of the game. After the trio reached to load the bases, Sheffey drove in one with a sacrifice fly to center, then Robinson and Lindsey Keys followed with RBI-singles. Keys' single scored two.
 
Sheffey and Goodson paced the Milligan offense in the victory, finishing 2-for-3 and 2-for-2 respectively. Sheffey had an RBI and two runs while Goodson had two RBI's.
 
Robinson came in for relief midway through the third inning and was the winning pitcher. Junior Megan Nicol, who toed the rubber for the first time this season, finished the game strong, holding the Skyhawks to three hits over the final three innings. She struck out one and picked up the save.