Panthers down Bulls twice

More than halfway through the 2006 season, Pitt softball coach Michelle Phalen has noticed a… More than halfway through the 2006 season, Pitt softball coach Michelle Phalen has noticed a tremendous improvement in her team’s ability to adjust to pitches at the plate.

Those adjustments have been a large part of Pitt’s early season success — the team is currently 3-1 in the Big East — and also enabled the Panthers to take two very different contests from visiting Buffalo Wednesday afternoon at Trees Field.

Phalen’s team used strong pitching, solid defense and an awakening offense to power past the Bulls 3-2 in the opener, staving off a late Buffalo rally in the final inning. The Panthers then pounced on the Bulls early in the second game, scoring the first seven runs of the game for a 7-2 win. The sweep improves the Panthers’ record to 19-12 overall.

“It was nice to see the hitting,” Phalen said after the game. “They’ve been learning to make the right adjustments at the plate. That has been really big and has helped us score runners.”

After falling behind 1-0 in the first game, senior Christa Hunter stepped to the plate and belted her fourth home run of the season on a line drive to left field. From there, junior pitcher Laura Belardinelli silenced the Bulls’ bats, allowing only three hits over the next four innings to help her team build a 3-1 lead.

With Belardinelli out of the game in the seventh, though, the Bulls mounted a furious rally. A two-out double to center field plated one runner and two hit batters resulted in a bases-loaded situation for Buffalo. Sophomore third baseman Jessica Dignon quelled the storm, though, cleanly fielding a groundball on the next at-bat and retiring the runner at first base to end the threat.

Hunter finished the game 2-for-3 with her one dinger to lead a Pitt offense that managed only five hits on the game. That offense awoke before the second game, though, and made sure that the visitors would never threaten again.

Hunter also got the start on the mound for Pitt in the next game, working two quick scoreless innings before handing the pitching duties to freshman Kaitlyn Schuster, who made her Trees Field debut by scattering eight Buffalo hits over five innings of work.

By the time the freshman took the mound in the third inning, though, her team had already built up a 7-0 lead, pounding out nine hits and using smart base running to shock Buffalo starter Margo Schramm in the first two innings.

“It’s always nice to play from in front, especially for pitchers,” Hunter said. “It’s nice to know that the bats are behind you.”

Junior outfielder Joey Scarf crossed home plate first for the Panthers, scoring on a single by senior second baseman Francesca DiMaria, who scored on the Panthers’ next at-bat when Dignon crushed a single up the middle of the field. Dignon later beat out a throw to home plate to score herself, building the lead to 3-0 by the inning’s end.

The offense picked up right where it left off in the bottom of the second, getting a lead-off triple from sophomore Valerie Mihalik when her base hit to left field squeaked past a diving Buffalo outfielder. DiMaria plated Mihalik two batters later with a two-out single to center field, her second RBI on the afternoon.

Dignon kept the two-out party rolling with another single, advancing DiMaria to second in the process. Hunter then drove in DiMaria and pushed Dignon to third while moving to second herself. Shortstop Sheena Hellon capped off the scoring with a two-out smash up the middle that scored both Dignon and Hunter as the lead swelled to 7-0.

That proved to be all of the offense Schuster needed to pick up her first win of the season, something Phalen was pleased to talk about after the game.

“Kaitlyn has gotten a lot better at locating her pitches and hitting her spots,” she said of the only freshman on her 19-player roster. “Today, her ball moves very well.”

The Panthers will now take to the road, having won 10 of 11, for a pair of Big East doubleheaders at Rutgers and Villanova beginning tomorrow.