In game one of a doubleheader against the best team in the Big East on Saturday afternoon,… In game one of a doubleheader against the best team in the Big East on Saturday afternoon, batters sent the ball soaring over the wall on three different occasions. Unfortunately for the Pitt softball team (18-24 overall, 4-6 Big East) only one of those three balls soared in their favor.

Seton Hall (27-12, 12-2) used a big fourth inning to beat the Panthers by a score of 10-4. The Pirates scored once in the first and twice in the second before cranking up their offense for five runs in the fourth by way of back-to-back home runs.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning, Laura Taylor blasted a grand slam deep over the right-center field wall to more than double the Pirates’ lead, making the score 7-0. Pitt starting pitcher Christa Hunter could only watch as Taylor rounded the bases before excited teammates greeted her as she crossed home plate.

“The first game we had poor pitching. We needed a better effort there,” Panthers’ head coach Michelle Phalen said.

Pitt needed only one more out to put a stop to the Pirates’ flood of runs, but that out didn’t come before Seton Hall added to its lead. Jenna Best stepped to the plate and took Hunter yard, driving the ball deep over the center field wall.

Down by eight runs, going into the bottom of the fourth, Pitt finally got on the board. Junior second baseman Francesca DiMaria singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior first baseman Casey Pickard.

With two outs, Hunter singled up the middle to score DiMaria for the Panthers’ first run of the game. Outfielder Joey Scarf reached base on a bunt single to keep things going for Pitt.

With runners on first and second, sophomore shortstop Sheena Hellon was looking to chip away at the Pirates’ lead, but got under the ball and popped it up to Seton Hall catcher Anne Leone to end the inning.

Sophomore reliever Meghan Bostick entered the game for Pitt in the top of the fifth and retired the first three Pirate batters in a row for a short half-inning. Pitt couldn’t capitalize on offense, however, something that disappointed Phalen.

“Our team doesn’t do a good job of feeding off defensive innings,” Phalen said. “We gain some momentum off defense and come in and don’t use that to our advantage. That’s just a sign of maturity.”

Hellon, though, determined to help her team out, used the sixth inning on both offense and defense to keep the Panthers in the game. With two outs in the top of the sixth, Hellon made a diving catch at short stop to keep the Pirates from reaching base for the second inning in a row.

In the bottom half of the inning, after an RBI single by Hunter scored Pickard to cut the lead to 8-2, Scarf was walked by Pirate relief pitcher Jessica Jones. Hellon then stepped to the plate and cranked a two-run homer over the right-center field wall to cut Seton Hall’s lead to four.

Panther catcher Heather Connor attempted to follow suit and blasted a hard hit ball into center field, but Pirate outfielder Akoua Lonergan had other plans and sprinted to make a spectacular catch for the third out of the inning and keep Pitt from scoring any more runs.

Seton Hall scored two more runs off Hunter, who re-entered the game in the seventh for the Panthers, to account for the final score of 10-4. Hunter allowed 17 hits in the loss during her 4.1 innings of work while the Pitt bullpen performed solidly with 2.2 perfect innings thrown by Bostick and Laura Belardinelli.