East Tennessee State softball coach Cheryl Milligan is hoping her team is peaking at the right time heading into this week’s Southern Conference softball tournament.
No. 7 seed ETSU will play No. 6 Western Carolina at 1 p.m. in Wednesday’s opening round at Hope Field in Spartanburg, South Carolina. If the Bucs win, they will play again at 7 p.m. If they lose, the season is over.
ETSU (17-35 overall, 6-15 Southern Conference) has gone 2-2 over its last four games. It included a 3-2 win over No. 1 seed and defending SoCon champion last Saturday.
“Our last three weekends, we’ve played tough against some really tough competition,†Milligan said. “We’re excited to be playing our best ball this time of the year.â€
The Bucs went 1-2 against Western Carolina in a regular-season series in Cullowhee. Milligan sees areas from that series where the Bucs need to play well to have a shot at winning the elimination game.
“We will have to do a good job against their better hitters,†she said. “They had good days at the plate against us, but I think our pitching has come a long way since then. I’m 100 percent sure our defense has. It’s about us fighting and staying poised.â€
The pitching duties will be in the hands of senior Sara Muir who has posted a 4-4 record with a 3.27 earned run average this season.
Muir has been through the highs and lows of the program our her tenure at ETSU. She calls coming to the end of the season “bittersweet†whether it’s Wednesday or extended to a later date.
She has 30 strikeouts over 55 2/3 innings pitched with just 10 walks. Muir also ranks fourth on the team in batting and leads the group with four home runs and 29 walks. She talked about the confidence the team got in taking a win over Chattanooga.
“We’re pretty fired up going into Spartanburg,†Muir said. “This weekend, stealing a game from Chatt, that was fun. Cam Young getting on, then Riley (Nayadley) getting a sacrifice, me getting on and then Makayla (Veglia) hitting a walk-off, that was exciting.â€
Young and Muir were each named to the All-Southern Conference second-team Tuesday.
Veglia, a sophomore infielder, drove in all three runs, including the game-winning sacrifice fly, in the 10-inning win over the Mocs. Young leads the team with a .385 batting average, 10 doubles, a .467 on-base percentage and 30 runs scored. Nayadley is next with a .317 batting average followed by Veglia at .300
“We’re feeling really good going into the conference tournament,†Veglia said. “I think it’s not about how we started the conference, but how we finish. We’re on a roll and I think (Western Carolina) is going to be a great matchup.â€
Brylee Mesusan, a junior outfielder who attended Daniel Boone High School, scored two runs in the Chattanooga series. Mesusan is also the team leader with 11 stolen bases in 12 attempts.
