Pitt softball clinches spot in ACC tournament with win at BC

The Pitt softball team entered its final regular season series in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts with work to do to secure a spot in the ACC tournament.

The three-game series against the Boston College Eagles began with a doubleheader on Saturday. Boston College (30-22 overall, 12-9 ACC) won game one, 5-2, and game two, 7-3. Needing a win in game three to earn the eighth and final seed in the ACC tournament, Pitt (31-20 overall, 8-14 ACC) came through with an 8-2 victory on Sunday.

Game one started at 12 p.m. on Saturday after inclement weather forced a two-hour delay.

Boston College scored the first run on Saturday in the bottom of the second on an RBI double by sophomore Jordan Chimento. Pitt trailed until the top of the sixth when senior Jenna Modic cleared the fence in right-center to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

Before the bottom of the sixth, the rain picked up again and caused a 45-minute delay.

Once the rain subsided, Boston College came out with a sense of urgency and regained the lead on a two-run home run by sophomore Annie Murphy. The Eagles added two more runs in the inning to make it 5-2, which held up as the final score.

The Eagles scored the first run in game two as well, set up by back-to-back hits by Murphy and sophomore Chloe Sharabba. The Panthers answered with a double by sophomore Erin Hershman and an RBI single by junior Kaitlin Manuel to tie the game at one.

Boston College took control of the game with a five-run inning in the bottom of the third.

Sophomore Kayla Harris struggled with her pitches after giving up a two-run home run to junior Tatiana Cortez. Harris walked Sharabba and gave up RBI doubles to Murphy and first baseman Carly Severini.

In the top of the fourth, Pitt sophomore Giorgiana Zeremenko hit a double and was replaced by senior Ashlee Sills on the base paths. Sills came home on Hershman’s RBI single, but Boston College maintained its 6-2 lead.

The Eagles tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead back to five. Manuel scored on an RBI single by senior Maggie Sevilla in the top of the seventh, but a double play ended the game and sealed the 7-3 victory for Boston College.

Pitt’s final regular season game started at 10 a.m., two hours earlier than expected with more inclement weather on the way.

The Panthers started strong in game three, piling up six runs in the first two innings.  After senior Shelby Pickett got hit by a pitch in the first inning, she immediately advanced to third on a double by Sevilla. Zeremenko walked to load the bases, then freshman Olivia Gray delivered a two-run single to get Pitt on the board.

The Eagles cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the first, but the Panthers used some two-out lightning to put together another three-run inning in the second.

Sevilla scored on a two-out double from Taylor, and Modic blasted her 12th home run of the season over the wall in center to score two more.

Boston College scored one more run in the second inning, but that was all Modic allowed on the mound in a complete game victory. The Panthers added two more runs on another RBI single by Gray and a solo homer by Sevilla, capping off the 8-2 victory in their regular season finale.

Even more important than ending its season with a win, Pitt clinched the eighth and final spot in the ACC tournament by winning on Sunday.

In their first game of the tournament, the Panthers will face off against the No. 1 seed Florida State Seminoles on Wednesday, May 12 at 11 a.m. in Raleigh, North Carolina.