BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (April 8, 2025) – East Tennessee State University softball ended its nonconference slate on the wrong end of a doubleheader sweep, falling 4-1 and 12-4 to Gardner-Webb on Tuesday.
Neither team got going early in the first game, as
Marissa Barnes went six up, six down to start the game, and the Buccaneers managed just a pair of runners on an error and single.
The ETSU offense warmed up in the top of the third.
Brylee Mesusan reached on a fielder's choice and
Riley Nayadley turned around the first pitch she saw for a single.
Cameron Young took one pitch before driving one past the outstretched glove of the first baseman into right field to score Mesusan and give the Bucs a 1-0 lead.
Gardner-Webb broke up Barnes' perfect game in the bottom of the fifth when a pair of runners reached via error. Barnes navigated out of the one-out jam, though, to get out of the inning without allowing a run.
Barnes carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth before Emily Garcia ended the bid with a double to right center. A hit-by-pitch and single off the glove of Nayadley allowed Garcia to score to level the game at 1-1. The Runnin' Bulldogs manufactured three more runs to take a 4-1 lead heading into the top of the seventh.
The Bucs got runners on in the seventh, but were unable to capitalize, and dropped the first game 4-1.
The Gardner-Webb bats kept applying pressure after its four-run sixth inning at the close of the first game, scoring three runs in the first and second innings, and added another four-run inning in the third
.
Both pitching staffs operated with a tighter strike zone than the opening game, as the walks piled up quickly. No batters were walked in the first contest, but eleven reached via a free pass in the first three innings of the second game.
ETSU's bats kept the squad in the game, as freshman
Whitney Boone demolished her first career home run with a no-doubter to left field to lead off the second. The Bucs tacked on another run in the inning with a perfectly executed double steal by Mesusan and
Tiare Rieger, as Rieger was able to cross home standing up.
Rieger was responsible for ETSU's third inning run when she worked a six pitch walk with the bases loaded to add a tally to the scoreboard, but the Bucs left the bases loaded in the frame.
Boone added her second RBI of the day on a groundout that scored Nayadley after fouling off five of the eight pitches she saw in the at-bat. The two-RBI day marked Boone's second career multi-RBI game.
Muncy nearly helped her own cause in her first career at-bat, driving a double off the center field wall in the deepest part of the park and advanced to third on a wild pitch in the fifth, but ETSU couldn't bring her in to score.
Gardner-Webb walked off the game with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth for a 12-4 win.
Next, ETSU continues SoCon play at home against Mercer at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 12.
For more information on Buccaneer softball, follow @ETSUSoftball on X (Twitter), @etsubucssoftball on Instagram and visit ETSUBucs.com.
