Pitt athletics enters final stretch of spring sports over weekend

With April slowly passing by, Pitt athletics is entering the final stretch of its 2023-2024 season. While some teams rose to the occasion, others fell behind. Here’s how each program fared over the weekend.

Track and field

Pitt took home one event win, with multiple top-ten finishes across different disciplines in the South Florida Invitational hosted by USF. First-year Norrah Lemongo set a personal record in the shot put, winning the event at 15.68 meters. Senior Ilse Steigenga received second place in long jump and sophomore Alesia Rengle received third in the high jump to cap off a successful meet for the Panthers.

Volleyball

The Panthers traveled to Columbus this weekend to take on Ohio State in a spring scrimmage. Pitt made easy work of Ohio State, sweeping the Buckeyes in three sets with a total winning margin of 10 points. Senior setter Rachel Fairbanks and sophomore outside hitter Blaire Bayless highlighted a dominant performance by Pitt volleyball.

Men’s soccer

The Panthers took on Wake Forest at Highmark Stadium, with the match going to penalties. While it was tied 1-1 going into penalty kicks, the Panthers fell at home. 

Lacrosse

Pitt lacrosse took on No. 3 Syracuse in New York this weekend, falling 16-7. A rough third season continues, as the Panthers move to 0-7 in conference and 4-11 overall. The Panthers were no match for Syracuse, allowing seven goals in the first quarter and trailing 12-1 at the half. Fifth-year attacker Emma Tyrrell had six goals for the Orange.

Baseball

The Panthers were able to pull out one win in a three-game series against Georgia Tech. Bad pitching plagued Pitt’s first and third games, combining for a total of 13 earned runs allowed in those two games. A solid effort by pitcher Jack Sokol led to a win in the middle game, but the Panthers’ bats could not keep up with the Yellow Jackets. A five-earned run loss by sophomore pitcher Ryan Reed left Pitt in a bind in their final game of the series, as it was only able to muster four runs to finish the weekend.

Softball

The Panthers won their first series of conference play this weekend, taking two of three from Boston College. In a postponed game from the Saturday slate, the Panthers fell to Boston College on Sunday afternoon due to one earned run. The Panthers went three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh inning and fell in game three. Pitt’s pitching highlighted the weekend, which allowed just seven runs across three games.