Pitt beats Penn State for the first time

Pitt softball won against Penn State for the first time in school history but dropped the… Pitt softball won against Penn State for the first time in school history but dropped the second game of a doubleheader on Tuesday in State College, Pa.

Pitt coach Michelle Phalen reflected on finally notching a win against a prestigious Penn State softball program.

“It was nice. We’ve had some good teams, and they’ve had some good teams,” Phalen said. “But we’re very evenly matched, and we’ve come a long way with this program in a short amount of time.”

The Panthers are now 21-14 overall and the Nittany Lions are 27-14.

It was the ninth game between the rivals. Pitt’s 2-0 shutout win tied the school record for most shutout wins in a season at 11.

Pitt freshman Cory Berliner pitched her fifth shutout of the season and improved to 12-6 on the season. In seven innings, Berliner allowed three hits and struck out six.

“She’s just been very solid,” Phalen said. “She doesn’t strike a lot of kids out but won’t walk a lot of batters, and when she gets ground balls and we play good defense behind her, she’s tough to beat.”

The Panthers took advantage of Penn State’s miscues to score their two runs. In the top of the fourth, two errors gave the Panthers two base runners, leading to a sacrifice fly by Samantha Card to plate the first Pitt run of the game.

In the top of the seventh, Pitt senior Mary Hecker was hit by a pitch and later scored on a wild pitch.

Pitt held off a Nittany Lions rally in the sixth after they notched a leadoff single. Pitt freshman Alicia Broudy made two plays for the first two outs, and Berliner struck out the final batter of the inning.

The Panthers dropped the second game to Penn State, 6-0. Phalen said, “In the second game we had really great pitching, but they played better defense. We also missed opportunities to drive runs in, but overall I thought we played well.”

Pitt notched the first hit of the game in the fourth inning when Samantha Card lined a single up the middle with two outs, but Card was gunned down trying to steal.

Three Penn State doubles in the bottom of the fourth counted for two runs. In the sixth, Penn State scored four runs off three hits and a Pitt error.

Pitt sophomore Kayla Zinger gave up five runs on four hits and struck out one in five and one-third innings of work. Zinger dropped to 8-7 with the loss.