BUIES CREEK, N.C. (Feb. 8, 2025) – East Tennessee State University softball lost in the morning contest, but bounced back in the evening to tally its first win of 2025 on opening weekend.

In the morning's game against UMass, the Buccaneer bats didn't wake up, as ETSU totaled just three hits against Olivia Cutuli. The Minutemen manufactured a pair of runs after a leadoff double in the fifth inning was followed by three singles. The two runs were the lone blemish on the day for Sara Muir, who went 4.1 innings with three strikeouts.

Freshman Whitney Boone came on in relief, throwing 1.2 innings with just one hit to close the game. However, the Bucs went down in order in the top of the seventh, closing the 2-0 loss.

In the lone night game ETSU will play this weekend, it got its best game of the young season. Transfer junior catcher Leinani Lutu came through in a big way, blasting the Bucs' first home run of 2025 in the bottom of the second against the Golden Flashes. The three-run shot scored junior Taylor Suchy and sophomore Maddison Stowell and put the Bucs up 3-2.

In the circle, sophomore Gabby Fowler allowed two runs (one earned) in the first inning after finishing the UMass game in relief and went two innings before turning the ball over to sophomore Cameron Lauretta, who went three innings, striking out one, and collected the win in her first appearance of the year.

After Kent State tied the game in the top of the third off a sac fly, it wouldn't score again. Two innings later, though, senior infielder Cameron Young led off the inning with a single. The preseason SoCon Player of the Year has gotten off to a scalding start, with eight hits in her first 13 at-bats. An error then allowed senior shortstop Riley Nayadley to reach base, and senior infielder Sara Muir drove Young in on a first-pitch RBI single. 

Young would be the winning run, but the Bucs weren't done, as Lutu drove in the pinch-running Leilani Coleman to put the Blue & Gold up by their winning margin of 5-3.

Freshman Catlin Pennington went to the circle for the last two innings with a two run lead and faced the minimum to earn her first career save in her first collegiate appearance. Despite allowing a leadoff single to start the seventh, she quickly erased it with a 4-6-3 double play, and induced a groundout to Muir to cement the ETSU win.

Next, the Bucs conclude the Camel Stampede at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9, against host Campbell. 

For more information on Buccaneer softball, follow @ETSUSoftball on X (Twitter), @etsubucssoftball on Instagram and visit ETSUBucs.com.