On March 18 the East Tennessee State University softball team faced Tennessee Tech in a doubleheader at home. The Bucs came into the game off doubleheader wins against Radford the day before. The Bucs continued their winning streak to bring it to four straight.
The wins bring the Bucs’ record to 12-14.
In the first game, Tennessee Tech scored the first run. The Bucs responded by coming out in the first inning with one run after Quinn Giesick (Bakersfield, CA) was hit by a pitch with bases loaded.
Tennessee Tech scored in the third inning off a home run. The Bucs had a big third inning, scoring five runs.
Kelsey Chernak (Ooltewah, TN) knocked in a run to bring a player in to tie the game at 2-2. Taylor Wright (Erwin, TN) singled to bring another run in to give the Bucs a 3-2 lead.
The Bucs’ third inning scoring barrage continued when Malloree Schurr (Montgomery, Texas) singled to third to bring in a run that led to an error by Tennessee Tech. The error brought in another run to give the Bucs a 5-2 lead. After a fly out by Mykeah Johnson (Cohutta, Ga.), that brought in a run to bring the Bucs’ lead to 6-2.
Raegan Sparks for Tennessee Tech hit a home run in the sixth inning to bring the Buccaneer lead to 6-3. Danielle Knoetze (San Diego, CA) scored on a wild pitch to bring the Bucs’ lead to 7-3. Madison Ogle (Maryville, TN) got the start on the mound, pitching five innings with three strikeouts. Rebecca Wahrmund (Morrilton, Ark.) came in relief and was very solid, throwing two strikeouts and not allowing one hit.
In the second game, the Bucs scored in the first inning to give them a 1-0 lead. The Bucs scored two more runs in the second inning to give them a 3-0 lead. The defense was solid for four innings until the fifth inning when Tennessee Tech scored two runs to bring the Bucs’ lead to 3-2. The Bucs were able to secure the win for their 12th win of the season. Tiffany Laughren (Erwin, TN) and Lindsey Fadnek (Coalfield, TN) were solid, combining for nine strikeouts.
“Defensively we did well,” said Head Coach Brad Irwin. “On offense only one error and we made a lot of plays.”
The Bucs’ pitching did very well on the day, keeping the ball in play.
“We worked on getting ahead in the count by throwing a lot more strikes,” said Irwin. “We really just did a good job of making plays.”
