Lady Buccaneers seeking first victory after Gamecock Invite

from staff reports

   COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The East Tennessee State softball team came out on the losing end of its final two games of Gamecock Invitational, losing 4-1 to Alabama-Birmingham before dropping an 8-0 decision to South Carolina on Monday afternoon.
   In the first game of the day, senior first baseman Melanie Collins drove in the Lady Buccaneers' first run of the season in the top of the first with a double to center. Tiffany Vandergriff scored on the Collins hit.
   UAB would score two runs in the bottom of the fame to grab a 2-1 lead and never look back. The Blazers added single runs in the fifth and sixth and seal the outcome.
   Vandergriff pitched her second straight complete game, allowing seven hits and three earned runs in her six innings of work.
   In game two, South Carolina took control of the game early, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first.
   At the plate for the Lady Bucs, Vandergriff and Mary Beth Hazelwood each had a pair of hits.
   ETSU (0-4) returns to action on Feb. 22 at the University of Georgia Invitational in Athens, Ga. The Lady Bucs face Marshall at 2 p.m. and host Georgia at 6.