Softball: Panthers fall to Seton Hall

In a three-game series against fellow Big East opponent Seton Hall, the Pitt softball team… In a three-game series against fellow Big East opponent Seton Hall, the Pitt softball team played three completely different games.

During Saturday’s double-header, the Panthers (24-20, 8-8 Big East) won the first game 2-1, but fell to the Pirates 8-2 in the following contest. Seton Hall (24-20, 8-7 Big East) won the series yesterday with a 7-5 victory.

In the victory, junior pitcher Cory Berliner earned her team-high 11th win while allowing just three hits and recording seven strikeouts.

Offensively, the Panthers generated their runs from two solo homeruns, one in the second inning by sophomore Niki Cognigni and one in the third by junior Reba Tutt.

The homerun was Cognigni’s first of the season, while Tutt’s blast brought her season-total to four.

Despite the success of the long ball, the Panthers needed defensive strength, especially in the seventh inning as the Pirates attempted a comeback.

Berliner had the bases loaded with only one out, but the play behind the pitcher allowed the Panthers to escape with the 2-1 win.

With a ground ball force-out at the plate bringing the out total to two, Berliner secured the victory as the final Pirate’s batter went down swinging.

The second game of the day was similar in respect to the Panther’s offense, which again scored two runs off of the homers of Tutt and fellow sophomore Ciera Damon.

Tutt has been a major offensive threat for Pitt, especially in Big East play, as she leads the team in batting average, home runs and slugging percentage in conference action.

However, the Pirates offense came alive and scored eight runs in the contest, starting early with a three-run third inning.

Junior pitcher Alyssa O’Connell suffered her 11th loss of the season, bringing her season record to 10-11. She gave up three runs in the game and senior pitcher Kayla Zinger entered in the fourth inning.

Zinger allowed the Pirates’ five additional runs, four of which were earned, that contributed to the 8-2 Seton Hall victory.

Seton Hall junior pitcher Katie Stilwell earned the victory with her three innings of relief work.

Both teams entered the game on Sunday looking for a win to earn the series victory and the Pirates found success in a high-scoring game as they won the series with a 7-5 victory in the final contest.

Seton Hall took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, but sophomore Kristen Cheesebrew tied the score with a solo homerun in the second.

The fourth inning was the deciding factor of the game as the Pirates scored five runs.

The Panthers, however, would not go down quietly, as Cheesebrew and Tutt both launched homers after the five-run performance of the Pirates.

Adding to the sophomore success was Yvette Bravo, who drove in Tutt in the bottom of the seventh inning and brought the Panthers within two runs.

With the RBI, Bravo brought her season total to a team-high 28.

Still, the offensive efforts were not enough to match Seton Hall as Berliner took the loss for the Panthers while senior Ashley Forsyth earned the win.

Berliner pitched 3.1 innings and gave up five runs off seven hits and O’Connell came in to relieve Berliner. The final two runs were attributed to O’Connell.

Forsyth was recently named to the Big East Honor Roll, which acknowledges conference players who have shown success in the previous week.

The Panthers will host another conference opponent in a three-game series next weekend as they welcome Syracuse to Trees Field.