LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (May 16, 2016) â€" The Milligan College softball team lost to No. 5 Saint Xavier University 2-0 in the NAIA Opening Round of the National Championship Monday afternoon in the first game of the Georgia Gwinnett Bracket.
 
Milligan will now face the loser of the Georgia Gwinnett/Brenau game in an elimination game on Tuesday, May 17, at 2:30 p.m. Saint Xavier, which boasts the NAIA's strikeouts leader in Nicole Nonnemacher, will play Tuesday at 12 p.m.
 
Nonnemacher, who entered the national postseason with an NAIA-leading 366 strikeouts, continued her strong season, striking out 19 on the way to the second no-hit bid in NAIA Opening Round history. Nonnemacher's only blemish was a walk she issued to Kacie Skeen with two out in the bottom of the first.
 
Inside the circle for Milligan, Jessica Goodson and Kassi Butcher shared the pitching duty, and the two combined to hold Saint Xavier to two runs, both in the first inning, and seven hits. Goodson suffered the loss after SXU's Brittany Plimmer singled to left-center with one out in the first, scoring the go-ahead run. Saint Xavier then added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat.
 
Milligan is set to face either Georgia Gwinnett or Brenau on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., and a win there would put the Buffs into another elimination game scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m.