Weekend sports recap: Softball drops three of five to open season in Florida

Pitt athletics was plenty active last weekend as winter sports begin to wrap up and spring seasons start. Women’s lacrosse won its first game in program history, while the softball and track and field teams traveled south for invitationals. Here’s the rundown on all of the action. 

Women’s lacrosse

Pitt triumphed over intercity rival Duquesne 9-8 in overtime to earn its first win in program history on Friday night. The Panthers will remain home at Highmark Stadium for their next match against Siena on Friday at 5 p.m.

Track and field

The Panthers traveled to Clemson, South Carolina, over the weekend to compete in the annual Tiger Paw Invitational. The meet included host Clemson, plus Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, NC A&T, UNC, Texas and Virginia Tech, among others.

On the men’s side, sophomore Jack Miller took home first place in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 7:57.39. Senior Tyler Rollins and sophomore Sam Otis also took part in the event, finishing in sixth and 12th with times of 8:21.32 and 8:37.32, respectively.

Graduate student Felix Wolter and junior Clement Campbell produced strong showings in the long jump as both landed in the top-12 with distances of 7.55 and 7.31 meters, respectively. Pitt did well across the board in the one-mile run as well, with first year Finn Walsh leading the way in second place at a time of 4:07.79. Sophomore Luke Henseler and graduate student Josh Higgins followed with placements of seventh and eighth and times of 4:11.51 and 4:12.20, respectively.

For the women, graduate student Ally Brunton finished the 3,000-meter run in second with a time of 9:34.42, while sophomore Emily Brown followed right behind in third place at 9:52.09 before junior Mary Borkoski finished in fifth at 10:02.62, giving the Panthers three top-five finishers. Junior Lydia Bottelier tied for 10th place in the high jump with a distance of 1.72 meters.

Pitt will participate next Friday and Saturday in both the JDL DMR Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Virginia Tech Challenge in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Softball

The Panthers opened their season with five games over the weekend at the Northern Lights Invitational in Leesburg, Florida. Participants included Akron, UConn, Eastern Kentucky, Iowa, Kentucky, Liberty, Michigan State, Missouri, Northwestern, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.

Pitt’s first action came on Friday against Michigan State and Akron. In the game against the Spartans, redshirt first-year starter Dani Drogemuller and graduate student Ally Muraskin combined for seven innings of one-run ball for the Panthers. But that wasn’t enough to best MSU sophomore starter Ashley Miller, who pitched a complete-game shutout.

Pitt bounced back in a big way later in the afternoon against the Zips, winning by way of mercy rule in the fifth inning with a final score of 10-0. Senior starter Abby Edwards and first year Kendall Brown shut down the opposing offense while junior right fielder EC Taylor, first-year designated hitter Haylie Brunson, junior left fielder Bailey Drapola and senior first baseman Sarah Seamans did most of the damage against Akron’s pitching staff.

On Saturday, the Panthers’ only contest came against Eastern Kentucky, which ended in a 7-1 victory for Pitt. Drogemuller got the nod as the starting pitcher for the second consecutive day and threw a complete game one-hitter while allowing zero earned runs and striking out eight batters.

Pitt suffered its second setback of the weekend on Sunday morning, as it gave up five unanswered runs and lost at the hands of Iowa by a score of 9-4. The Panthers tagged senior starter Breanna Vasquez with four runs early behind senior Katlyn Pavlick’s pinch hit, three-run triple, but were stymied over the last five innings.

The final game of the Invitational for Pitt came against rival Penn State, with the Nittany Lions coming out victorious in a 1-0 shutout as senior Bailey Parshall threw a complete game shutout.

The Panthers (2-3, 0-0 ACC) will travel to College Station, Texas, to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational next weekend. Their opponents will be Missouri State, Stephen F. Austin, Kansas and host Texas A&M.

Wrestling

Pitt (7-6, 1-3 ACC) hosted No. 4 NC State on Friday for Senior Night, but were bested by the Wolfpack in a 26-9 loss.

Redshirt seniors Micky Phillippi and Jake Wentzel along with redshirt junior Cole Matthews all won their matches, with Matthews extending his winning streak to 10. NC State was able to clean up otherwise as they prevailed in eight of the 11 bouts overall. 

The Panthers will finish their regular season against Duke in Durham, North Carolina, on Friday night. The ACC Network will broadcast the match at 7 p.m.

Gymnastics

Pitt competed in a tri-meet in Morgantown, West Virginia, and took home the win against Texas Woman’s University by a score of 194.575-194.500 while losing to host West Virginia 195.900-194.575.

First year Sidney Washington led all Panthers in the vault with a score of 9.825, resulting in a tie for third place. Senior Katie Chamberlain placed in a tie for seventh with a score of 9.800 while first year Hallie Copperwheat tied for 10th, coming in at 9.775.

The Panthers had three finishers in the top five for bars as Copperwheat placed fourth with a score of 9.825, while Chamberlain and first year Jordyn Ewing tied for fifth at 9.800. All three, along with senior Kiley Robatin, ranked in the top 10 for the beam event, as well.

The Panthers will compete in a tri-meet Monday in College Park, Maryland, against Minnesota and host Maryland.

Men’s basketball

The Panthers (10-16, 5-10 ACC) defeated the NC State Wolfpack (10-16, 3-12 ACC) in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon by a score of 71-69, earning back-to-back wins over conference opponents for the first time this season. Pitt will travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for its next game against North Carolina on Wednesday. The ACC Network will broadcast the game at 8 p.m.

Women’s basketball

The Panthers (11-13, 3-10 ACC) lost a tightly contested bout with Syracuse on Sunday afternoon by a final score of 67-65.

Pitt will next face Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on Tuesday night. The ACC Network’s digital platform, ACCNX, will broadcast the game at 7 p.m.