Little was expected from the ETSU softball Bucs last year. The 2006 spring season was a rollercoaster ride, but the momentum shifted for the Lady Bucs late in the season. “I’m thankful by year’s end we were able to pull the confidence out of them,” said Andrea Mangrum, head coach of the Lady Bucs softball squad. The Lady Bucs won nine of their last 12 games and shocked a lot of folks by finishing third in the Atlantic-Sun Conference Tournament.
The attitude of the team changed somewhere in the middle of the season. Coach Mangrum says her Christian faith helped her stay positive when the wins were not coming. “The trials we went through was the strength that carried us to where we were by season’s end,” said Mangrum. Stephanie Gaynord led the team in almost every offensive category last year. The spirited senior set a school record with 11 homeruns in her junior campaign. “We just decided we needed to stick together and we started playing well as a team,” Gaynord said.
The Bucs are using the momentum from last year to carry them into fall training. “I will be a lot more confident this year,” sophomore M.C. Vercoe said. “I think the harder you work in the fall the better your performance in the spring,” she said. Strength and conditioning coach Lee Morrow agrees. “Overall strength conditioning is the best way to reduce injuries,” he said.
Vercoe rotated between first base and pitcher during the spring and wants to help her team from the mound again this season. “As a team I want to go back to conference and I want to win it,” she said. If the effort the team is putting in this fall is any indication of on the field results, they should fair well. The softball squad has one of the top freshmen recruiting classes in school history. Mangrum will lean on Gaynord and Junior Briana Knight will motivate the nine new players.
The Lady Bucs softball team will host a youth clinic at Metro-Kiwanis Park starting Saturday, Sept. 23.

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