Before Sunday’s double-header against Sweet Briar, senior Autumn McMillen was honored for Senior Day.

“Autumn is a fantastic teammate and leader,” Head Coach Joshua Freeman said. “She has worked hard on the things she needed to work on and is stepping up when her name has been called.”

In game one, the Vixens struck first, scoring one to start the game.

Sweet Briar would add another run in the top of the fourth, but the team responded in the bottom half when McMillen singled to right-center field.

After a zero in the fifth, the Panther offense exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

First-year Emily Wood reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring sophomore Kaylee Hughes to tie the game at two.

First-year Mirenda Shields hit a sac fly to right field to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.

Junior Macie Bell recorded a sac fly of her own to help extend the lead before sophomore Riley Young hit a two-run home run to give the team a 6-2 lead going into the sixth inning.

“It was a good inning, and we got some people on and drove them in,” Freeman said. “It was huge because we were struggling up to that point in the game.”

To follow the big inning offensively, the Vixens would score three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh to send the game into extra innings, and two in the eighth to help them beat Ferrum 8-6 in extra-innings.

The Panthers were shut out for the final three innings.

Freeman said the combination of errors, walks, and hits gave up the runs late, helping Sweet Briar take game one.

In game two, the Panther offense scored first as first-year Kenadee McCullough singled to left center to take a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Vixens scratched a run, but Ferrum followed that with a run of their own in the bottom half when first-year Nicole Emerson reached on an error, scoring junior Carsen Hogston.

Freeman said getting that run back was huge for the momentum.

“We talk about punching back all the time,” he said. “To steal the momentum right back was a big reason we won the ball game.”

The next three inning would be scoreless, and behind first-year Amber Greiner’s complete game, Ferrum took home game two 2-1.

The following day, the team traveled to Virginia Wesleyan, who is undefeated in ODAC play.

In game one, the Marlins scored one in the first and one in the sixth, but kept the Panther bats quiet, as the team lost 2-0.

“The whole team was stoked about game one,” Freeman said. “The defense and the pitching were great, and we held a team that scores a lot of runs down.”

In game two, after a scoreless first, Virginia Wesleyan scored nine runs across the next three innings.

Ferrum was able to plate one on sophomore Georgia Carter’s single up the middle, scoring junior Emily Hopper.

But the one run wasn’t enough as game two was called for run rule, losing 9-1.

After four games in two days, Freeman had a message to the team.

“We keep improving and keep getting better, and I was proud of them for competing after a couple long days,” he said.

Ferrum’s ODAC record moves to 8-8 which is good to be tied for fifth with Shenandoah.

The team travels to Danville, VA today for a double-header against Averett.