MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (March 1, 2016) â€" With the start of Appalachian Athletic Conference action only two days away, the Milligan College softball team battled to its fourth sweep in six nonconference doubleheaders to start the season, winning game one over Ferrum College 7-0 before dropping the second game 5-1 Tuesday afternoon at Anglin Softball Field.

The victory in game one for Milligan was highlighted by junior Jessica Goodson's (4-2) first career shutout, in which she allowed only four hits and one walk while striking out seven batters, a season-best for herself and a team-best so far this year. It was also Goodson's second complete game of the season and fourth of her career, and was her team-leading fourth win of the season.

The biggest threat Goodson faced was a situation with runners on first and second with two out in the top of the fourth, when a long fly ball to deep right by Heather Mayberry was just brought in by a running Caroline Testerman.

The Buffaloes, meanwhile, scored three times in both the bottom of the second and the bottom of the fifth. A single by Jenna Gilbert brought in Kacie Skeen, who reached on a double, for the first run of the ballgame. Milligan then tacked on two more runs in the second on two Panther errors, and then scored again in the fourth on another error, this one the second error of the game by the Panther's centerfielder.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jessica Wheelock hit her first home run of the season to bring in Jessica Connatser from third. The Buffs then crossed the plate one last time on Ferrum's fifth error of the game.

Wheelock's homer in game one made her the seventh Buff this season to hit one over the fence. However in game two, Milligan again struck first as Natalie Sheffey became the first Buff to hit her second long ball of the year.

Milligan's game two starter, Kassi Butcher, started off very effectively, recording three straight 1-2-3 innings to start the game, and while going into the fourth, had recorded eight straight groundouts.

In the fourth inning though, the leadoff hitter for Ferrum reached on an error, and was followed by the Panther's first hit of the game off Butcher to set up an RBI groundout by Logan Barbour. Butcher then struck out Amber Coffin swinging to strand Aiyana Lew, who recorded Ferrum's first hit earlier in the inning, on third.

The Buffs had chances in each of the second, third, fourth and fifth innings as three leadoff singles, two of which came from Samantha Lilley, and a two-out double by Wheelock in the fifth were all for not.

Then in the top of the sixth, three consecutive singles to start the inning for Ferrum chased Butcher and gave the Panthers a 2-1 advantage. Cayley Shoemaker replaced Butcher, but was greeted by Coffin, who made up for her strikeout in the fourth by smacking a three-run homer to center.

Milligan never recovered by the Panther's big sixth inning as Lilley doubled with one out in the sixth, her third hit of the game in three at bats, and moved to third on Shoemaker's single, but was unable to be brought in. Then in the seventh, Kelsey Linn reached on a base knock with one out and advanced to second on an error by Ferrum's Cheyenne Strickland at third, but again would go no further.

Butcher (1-2), took the game two loss after tossing five innings of four-hit softball and allowing only three earned runs. Her counterpart, Courtney Rudd (2-0), went the distance and gave up only one run on nine hits, but was benefited by 10 strikeouts.

Milligan's record held steady at .500 (6-6), while Ferrum (3-1), an NCAA Division III institution, suffered its first loss on the season in the first ever meeting between the two schools. Both of Ferrum's doubleheaders so far have come against AAC schools as the Panthers opened the season with two wins over Bluefield College back on Feb. 20.

Next up, Milligan remains at home to open the AAC slate against Bryan College on Thursday, March 3, with the first pitch of the doubleheader set for 1 p.m.