March 6, 2007

RIDGELAND -- It was a night of firsts at Freedom Ridge Park in Ridgeland on Monday, as the Millsaps softball team won its first game of the season, freshman Brittney McAllister picked up her first career win in a Majors uniform and first-year head coach Roland Rodriguez earned his first career victory on the Millsaps staff.

After losing a 2 hour and 50 minute heartbreaker, 15-13, in 10 innings in Game 1, the Majors rebounded to win the nightcap with four unanswered runs in the bottom of the sixth, capped off by a Kasey Thibodeaux two-out, two-RBI single up the middle.

Millsaps rallied from a 10-5 deficit in the bottom of the seventh in Game 1, sending the game to extra innings after posting five runs in the frame off a Jessica Clincy fielder's choice, a Morgan Ladner two-RBI double and a Renee Hebert two-RBI double.

The two teams traded a run apiece in the eighth and two runs each in the ninth before Piedmont tacked on two unanswered runs off an RBI-single and double in the top of the 10th frame for the win.

Despite the loss, the Majors showed a lot of fight in rallying from behind four different times in the contest and pounded out a season-high 13 runs and 16 hits. In addition, all nine Millsaps batters recorded a hit in the game with six having multi-hit performances.

In the nightcap, Millsaps fell behind 3-0 in the first frame and trailed 5-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth before rallying for four runs off a Sam Hill RBI-single, a Jennifer McKinley sacrifice fly and the game-winning two-out, two-RBI single from Thibodeaux.

Meredith Ray (8-4), the winning pitcher in Game 1, relieved starting pitcher Michelle Broderick with one out in the sixth and allowed three runs off three Millsaps hits in the inning for the loss.

McAllister (1-2) earned her first career victory in a Millsaps uniform, relieving Thibodeaux in the fifth with the score knotted at 3-3. The freshman from Mobile, Ala., scattered two runs off one hit in three innings of work for the Majors' first win of the year.

"It was a total team effort," Rodriguez said. "We put ourselves in the position to win game one with a five-run seventh to force extra innings but unfortunately some things didn't go our way and we came up short. Some of the same situations arose in the nightcap, and the girls took advantage of a second opportunity. It's good to get that first win under our belts."

Millsaps will hit the road for a pair of weekend doubleheaders at Huntingdon and LaGrange College. Saturday's games are scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m. with Sunday's doubleheader slated for a 1 and 3 p.m. CT start in Georgia.