Softball working towards .500 record

The Pitt softball team split six games over the past five days as it split a doubleheader with… The Pitt softball team split six games over the past five days as it split a doubleheader with Connecticut, was swept in one against Robert Morris and claimed a sweep of its own at Youngstown State.

The Panthers came out of the three doubleheaders with an 18-26 record on the season.

UConn 5, Pitt 3 (nine innings)

The first game in the Pitt-UConn doubleheader had an hour-long rain delay, a Panther seventh-inning comeback and a ninth-inning defeat. Nikki Gasti pitched all nine innings for Pitt, tying her career high with 11 strikeouts.

The Panthers scored first in the second inning.

With one out, Gill singled and stole second. Tiffany White followed and drove Gill in with a single.

The Huskies showed flashes of being a better team than their 8-25 record shows as they capitalized off Pitt defensive miscues to score three runs in the fifth.

The Panthers staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to reach extra innings.

Amy Steich singled in the seventh with one out and moved to second on a ground out. Angela Blackmon doubled Steich in, and moved to third on a single from Clare McCann. Kelly Hulpa tied the game with an RBI single.

After one scoreless inning, though, UConn scored two runs on three hits, both RBIs coming from Huskies centerfielder Elisa Brinkworth. Pitt put one runner on base in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn