The Pitt softball team traveled to sunny Boca Raton, Fla., this past weekend to open its… The Pitt softball team traveled to sunny Boca Raton, Fla., this past weekend to open its season in the Florida Atlantic Invitational. In five games, the Panthers defeated Minnesota twice but fell to Mississippi, Kentucky and Maryland, finishing with a 2-3 record in the early stages of the season.

Head coach Holly Aprile said that her team showed signs of success in its first tournament, despite the initial losing record. “Obviously, we wanted to win all of our games, but we also wanted to set a positive tone on both offense and defense,” Aprile said. “We finished 2-3, but there were a lot of good things that happened that we can build on.”

One of those areas is the pitching performance of junior Alyssa O’Connell. In Pitt’s first game against Minnesota, O’Connell earned her first seven-inning shutout in the Panther’s 2-0 victory. O’Connell recorded three strikeouts, gave up only four hits in this contest and also closed out a 4-2 victory over Minnesota in the fifth and final game of the invitational.

Aprile looks to O’Connell for leadership on the team and believes that her performance will only improve. “[O’Connell] is a very hard worker,” Aprile said. “I expect her to get better and better because she is a very committed and determined individual.” In the Panthers’ first two losses — at the hands of Mississippi and Kentucky — offensive production was a problem, as they failed to score in a 3-0 contest against Mississippi and posted only one run in a 2-1 defeat to Kentucky.

Pitt had opportunities to score against Mississippi, but could not capitalize on them as two base runners were left stranded in scoring positions. One bright spot in the offense, however, was the solid plate performance of freshman catcher Holly Stevens. Stevens recorded her first home run in the Panthers’ first win and tacked on another solo shot as the Panthers fell to Kentucky.

According to Aprile, there is sufficient talent around Stevens to facilitate yet more scoring chances for the Panthers. “Overall, I was pleased with the performance of the entire team,” Aprile said. “Stevens got off to a very solid start, as did Ashley Amistade and Megan Livesey.” Amistade finished the tournament with six hits while Livesey scored two runs for the Panthers over the five games.

The Panthers’ third loss came in an extra-inning contest against Maryland, as Pitt fell 4-3 in the eighth inning. Maryland took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Panthers tied the game in the bottom of the seventh as Kristen Cheesebrew connected with a two-run double. Despite the late rally, Maryland recorded another two runs at the top of the eighth, while Pitt only countered with one in the ending half of the inning.

Aprile knows that such a loss can impact a team in a negative way, but she is confident that her team will use it as motivation for future play. “An extra-inning loss can be draining, but we did a lot of very good things in that game and those were our points of emphasis in the post-game analysis,” Aprile said. “There is a lot to be learned from losing, and the key is to keep getting better and that is what we focus on in our preparation.” The Panthers will return to the field on Saturday when they enter the North Carolina Invitational, taking on Fairfield in their first game.