East Tennessee State University’s softball team will compete in the Winthrop Invitational from March 6 to March 8 at Terry Field in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The Buccaneers are scheduled for six games during the tournament, facing the Winthrop Eagles, Bucknell Bison, and Georgia State Panthers twice each.
The team’s first game is against Georgia State on March 6 at 1 p.m., followed by a matchup with host Winthrop later that day at 6 p.m. On March 7, ETSU plays Winthrop again at 1:30 p.m. and then Bucknell at 6 p.m. The final day of competition includes a rematch with Georgia State at 10:30 a.m. and concludes with another game against Bucknell at 1 p.m.
ETSU enters the invitational with a record of nine wins and one loss. The team recently swept a doubleheader against Alabama A&M, with Fowler earning the win in the first game and Muncy securing victory in the second. In their recent matchups, one pitcher achieved her second win of the season after pitching over five innings without allowing any walks and limiting Tennessee State to two runs.
A notable performance this season was ETSU’s 17-0 win over Tennessee State, which set a new facility record for most runs scored in a single game at Betty Basler Field. Eighteen players had plate appearances during that game; fourteen recorded hits and thirteen scored runs.
Another highlight included a player hitting her first home run as a Buccaneer—her eighteenth career homer—driving in three runs during that contest. The shutout marked only the fourth for ETSU over the past three seasons.
Earlier this year, another player tallied her first career home run in a close victory over Bowling Green State University (BGSU), driving in two RBIs to secure the win. One pitcher recorded five strikeouts for an individual single-game high so far this season.
The Buccaneers began their season by winning all four games at the Scotsman Invitational hosted by Presbyterian College, including two victories over Albany and additional wins against Presbyterian and Mercyhurst. This start marks the best opening record in program history.
For this regular season, ETSU is scheduled to play fifty-two games—twenty-five at home in Betty Basler Stadium and twenty-seven on the road—against opponents from ten different conferences across twenty-two teams.
In preseason polling within their conference, ETSU was picked to finish eighth overall.
Head coach Cheryl Milligan leads ETSU into her fourth season overseeing the program, supported by returning assistant coaches Bill and others. Milligan has an overall coaching record of 587 wins, 321 losses, and one tie; her record with ETSU stands at forty-six wins and one hundred thirteen losses.
This year’s roster features seven freshmen, eight sophomores, nine juniors, five seniors—with twenty-two returning players joined by seven newcomers. Among key returners are senior catcher , senior pitcher Barnes, and junior infielder .
