It has been a long road home for the Pitt softball team. And the Panthers couldn’t have ended… It has been a long road home for the Pitt softball team. And the Panthers couldn’t have ended it on a better note.

After eight months and 27 games of playing on other teams’ turfs, Pitt softball ended its road swing with two substantial wins against Akron Wednesday at Lee Jackson Field.

The Panthers (17-12) played Akron (10-22) two times earlier in the season, losing the first meeting, 6-5, and winning the second, 8-5.

But that was two weeks ago.

Pitt dominated Akron Wednesday, 10-0, in the first game and 10-2 in the second.

“We’re getting better,” Pitt coach Michelle Phalen said.

Practicing on its home field only four times this season, Pitt’s experience and growth has come mainly from game situations.

“The experience you get in a practice is never really quite like the experience you get in a game,” Phalen said.

And the Panthers certainly got a lot of experience on Wednesday.

Mixing strong, diligent offense with solid pitching, Pitt had 15 hits and struck out 16 batters.

“We were taking better swings at better pitches,” Phalen said. “We just really stuck to our game plan offensively.”

Pitt opens its home schedule this weekend against Big East opponent Connecticut, which began Big East play last weekend, splitting a two-game series against Providence.

Pitt 10, Akron 0

Pitt’s Cory Berliner led the defense from the mound, giving up only five hits in seven innings.

Pitching her first full-game shutout, the freshman Berliner struck out eight batters as Pitt’s offense steadily racked up runs.

Beginning with a walk to center fielder Reba Tutt, Pitt got on the board when a double by third baseman Jessica Dignon scored Tutt in the first inning.

From there, Pitt’s batting continued to chip away at Akron, as Tutt’s triple in the second scored two runs, first baseman Sam Card’s home run scored two in the third, and an RBI single from Tutt scored one in the fourth.

Pitt’s four final runs in the seventh inning came from several batters being hit by pitches to walk in a run before a three-run double from designated hitter Kayla Zinger capped off the Panthers’ offensive onslaught with the score 10-0.

Pitt 10, Akron 2

The second game went scoreless for the first two innings before Pitt showed up on the board in the third.

A pair of runs came from two sloppy throws made by Akron in the third. The first, a wild throw on a Dignon single, scored first baseman Alicia Broudy to put the Panthers up, 1-0.

Later in the inning, a passed ball allowed outfielder Ashley Amistade to score.

Akron came back in the bottom of the inning, tying the game at two with three hits.

In the fourth, however, Pitt broke out with six runs.

Another wild throw by Akron early in the fourth scored two runs for Pitt before loading the bases on a bunt by Amistade. With two outs, Dignon hit a grand slam to take the Panthers’ lead to 8-2.

Pitt starting pitcher Zinger managed to contain Akron for the next two innings, allowing no runs and only one hit.

In the top of the sixth, Pitt added two more runs to its lead on singles by both Dignon and Card. Reliever Alyssa O’Connell came in for the final inning, striking out two and giving up no hits to seal the game at 10-2.