Softball: Panthers salvage series, hold eighth place with Sunday victory

Pitt’s softball team lost its series against Boston College, but the Panthers still returned home as winners. 

Pitt held a three-game lead over the Eagles for eighth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings, the last seed that makes the conference tournament. As long as they weren’t swept in Chestnut Hill, Mass., this weekend, the Panthers would still cling to a postseason spot with 13 ACC games remaining.

So although Pitt dropped two of three games this weekend at Shea Stadium against Boston College — losing 5-3 in the first game of a double-header Saturday afternoon, then 13-4 in six innings for the second game and finishing with a 2-0 victory Sunday afternoon — it left on top.

Junior outfielder Carly Thea realized the importance of holding on to eighth place, but wanted better results out of the weekend.

“That definitely helps us a bit,” Thea said. “It would’ve helped more to win two of three or three of three, but winning one of the games was big.”

But after Saturday, which was a day to forget for most of the Panthers, the situation looked bleak.

Junior Savannah King was handed the loss after throwing just four innings, in which she allowed five runs (four earned) on just three hits. King showed erratic control, though, throwing just 58 strikes in her 111 pitches, which led to seven walks. Her seven free passes marked the second-highest total, edged only by an eight-walk performance March 1 against Kentucky. But King pitched 8 2/3 innings that game, more than twice as long as she lasted on Saturday.

Through three innings, King had not allowed a hit, but the Panthers still trailed, 1-0. By the fourth, though, Boston College charged ahead for a 5-0 advantage. The Eagles scored two of the runs on bases-loaded walks by King.

While Lauren Vinson entered in relief of King, tossing a scoreless fifth and sixth, Pitt began to pick up steam offensively. Tori Nirschl crushed a two-run home run in the sixth, and Thea and Kaila Balatgek notched back-to-back doubles in the seventh, but the Panthers’ window for a comeback was slammed shut with a flyout and two strikeouts.

Thea said it was tough to fall short that late, especially since she thought Pitt was getting unlucky on some the hits it allowed.

“It was tough because there was nothing the fielders could do,” she said. “There were short bloops, the wind was taking the ball or it was too low to catch.”

King’s outing was plagued with inconsistent control, but it was only a preview of more to come in the second game of Saturday’s double-header. 

Junior Alexa Larkin surrendered a season-high eight walks, but unlike King, the Eagles’ batters were collecting hits to double the damage. In 5 1/3 innings, Larkin allowed 14 hits and 11 runs — all of which were earned — while striking out just four batters.

Although frequent walks slow the pace of the game and prevent fielders from staying on their toes, Thea said she knew the high walk totals weren’t a reason to panic.

“It’s not tough to stay focused,” she said. “Sometimes you’re gonna have games like that. Even though it’s walks now, it could be strikeouts [later]. I’m always focused and on my toes.”

There wasn’t much for Pitt to take away from the 13-4 drubbing in six innings. The Panthers couldn’t score with the bases loaded in the first inning, but allowed the Eagles to score once with the bases full in the bottom half of the frame.

If a bright spot manifested at all, it would have been in the top of the third, when Thea backed her words with action. Redshirt sophomore second baseman Maggie Sevilla bashed her team-leading eighth home run, and Thea followed with her fifth of the season, pushing the Panthers to a 2-1 edge.

But then Pitt lost that lead. Then it lost another after the fifth — although saying lost doesn’t begin to qualify the explosion the pitching staff would allow.

In the bottom of the sixth alone, Boston College scored 11 runs on 10 hits, effectively ending the contest and putting Pitt in a hole with one game remaining in the series. With Eagles pitcher Nicole D’Argento set to start the series finale after keeping the Panthers’ offense at bay Saturday, the outlook seemed even dimmer.

It was clear that Pitt was struggling to figure out D’Argento after the team registered just 10 hits in her 11 2/3 innings through two games.

But if any Panther learned anything about the Eagles redshirt senior start, it was Thea, who finished the weekend 5-for-6 with two home runs, two RBI, four runs and two walks. Thea’s second longball of the series came in the second inning of the third game, a sign to D’Argento that she might want to change her approach.

“I don’t think she liked me very much,” Thea said, referencing her two at-bats that ended as four-pitch walks.

Thea’s home run would also prove to be enough offense for Larkin and King.

Larkin (6-5) picked up the win after allowing two hits and two walks in three innings, while King pitched the final four frames — surrendering just one hit and a walk against three strikeouts — to earn her third save.

Thea said that Boston College dictated the Panthers on Saturday, but that the win Sunday showed their resilience — and showed that they take heed of coach Holly Aprile’s advice.

“I think that we just came together [for the win], it was a new day,” she said. “What our coach always tells us is you can’t have just one area of the game working. Not all of our areas were off the charts [Sunday], but all of areas were working. When we do that, we can come away with the win.”

In doing just that, the Panthers remain poised for the postseason.