Softball: Pitt uses fall season to prepare

Opening day of their regular season might be more than four months away, but the Pitt women’s… Opening day of their regular season might be more than four months away, but the Pitt women’s softball team is already preparing for the 2012 season.

With a 3-1 fall seasonrecord after a tournament at Youngstown State under their belt, the Panthers will host their first fall ball tournament this weekend.

“It’s exciting that this will be the first time we play fall ball at home,” senior infielder Niki Cognigni said. “And it’s even better that we get to play some of our rivals.”

Pitt will host local schools Robert Morris and California (Pa.) in a doubleheader Saturday before taking on Ohio State in both games of a doubleheader Sunday.

“These fall games can give us some kind of an indication of what we will have heading into the spring,” Pitt head coach Holly Aprile said.

The games will be the first time eight freshmen, including two pitchers, put on the blue and gold on their home field at the Petersen Sports Complex.

“It’s a really good opportunity to see how the younger players adjust to this level,” returning junior and starting catcher Holly Stevens said before the Youngstown tournament. “We have a lot of returning talent and good freshmen coming in, so I’m excited to see what we can do.”

The Panthers are coming off a record breaking season where they had more wins (34), Big East wins (13), runs scored (236), home runs (51), and shutouts (14) than ever before. The Panthers lost some of the athletes that led them to those numbers, namely Reba Tutt (all-time career runs leader at Pitt) and pitcher Alyssa O’Connell (set the single season win percentage record at .750). Fortunately, early signs are that some of those shoes might be filled.

First-year pitchers Savannah King and Alexa Larkin both picked up wins in the first fall tournament, against Cleveland State, Eastern Kentucky and IUP and held their opponents to a combined four runs in the three games.

But the bats didn’t explode like Aprile would’ve liked, as Pitt only managed to score 10 runs in four games.

“We’re looking to hit the ball better this weekend, that’s for sure,” she said.

Despite losing five seniors from last season’s 34-17 team, this year’s squad will return eight players who started at least 20 games last spring. When the spring season begins, the Panthers expect to build on last year’s season.

“I feel pretty good about where we are going into this season,” Aprile said. “Last year’s senior class was really strong, and there’s no way you can replace them just like that. But I still feel like our talent level is going to be pretty high, and we’ve got some people who can really play. So I’m excited to see what we can do.”

“I expect to have a record-breaking season,” Stevens said. “With the players we have on this team, I think we can be better than we’ve ever been.”

Besides using the games to allow the freshmen to jell with the rest of the team, senior third baseman Kelly Hmiel says everyone on the team can use fall ball as an opportunity to learn and get better.

“This is a chance to see where we’re at and to see what improvements we can make heading into spring ball,” Hmiel said.