Friday, February 16
Chapel Hill, N.C.
11:00 AM EST
Pitt
vs
Wisconsin
Pitt Set to Compete in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
2/15/2018 10:13:00 AM | Softball
Panthers to Face Big Ten Foes Wisconsin and Illinois
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh softball team will continue the 2018 season at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Feb. 16-18, with contests against Illinois and Wisconsin. The Panthers will head to Chapel Hill, N.C., for four games as UNC plays host at Anderson Stadium.
THE SCHEDULE
HOW TO FOLLOW
BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE
GOING YARD
LOCAL LEADER
TAKING ONE (OR MORE) FOR THE TEAM
UP NEXT
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THE SCHEDULE
- The Big Ten/ACC Challenge will get underway Friday, Feb. 16 as Pitt opens play against Wisconsin at 11 a.m. The Panthers will play back-to-back games that day, facing Illinois at 1:30 p.m.
- The tournament will continue Saturday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. as Pitt faces Wisconsin for the second time, before closing the Challenge Sunday, Feb. 18 against Illinois at 10 a.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW
- Live stats will be available for all games, however there will be no live stream.
- Fans can visit the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tournament Central page for the complete schedule and links to live stats.
BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE
- The third annual BIG Ten/ACC Challenge features 10 schools from each conference, playing four games each at five campus sites over a three-day period from Feb. 16-18.
- Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and NC State will serve as host sites for this year's Challenge, while Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin will represent the Big Ten. In addition to Pitt, the other ACC participants will be Boston College, Louisville, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.
- The ACC posted a 19-13 record last year, winning the Challenge. ACC teams are a combined 31-33 record in the first two years of the Challenge, with the Panthers and Florida State tallying perfect 4-0 marks last year against Nebraska and Northwestern.
- The official title of the Challenge rotates each year. The 2018 event will be referred to as the Big Ten/ACC Softball Challenge and will continue to mirror the official title of the conferences' Challenge agreements for men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball.
- Pitt opened the 2018 season with a successful weekend at the Titan Classic in Fullerton, Calif., going 3-1-1 with wins over Loyola Marymount, Utah State and Rutgers.
- The season began Friday, Feb. 9, with back-to-back wins. The Panthers first defeated the Lions, 4-1, behind home runs from seniors McKayla Taylor and Erin Hershman.
- Pitt followed with its first walk-off win the year, a 3-2 victory over the Aggies. The long ball continued to benefit the Panthers in game two as back-to-back homers by senior Giorgiana Zeremenko and junior Gabrielle Fredericks brought the team back to tie Utah State 2-2 in the sixth. The home runs set up a walk-off win for Pitt as junior Olivia Gray smacked a single to left center in the bottom of the seventh to score junior Taylor Myers from first.
- The Panthers split on day two, defeating Rutgers, while falling to host Cal State Fullerton. Pitt opened the day with a 6-2 win over the Scarlet Knights, as the Panthers tallied nine hits en route to the victory. Three different players tallied two hits in Gray and Alexis Solak and sophomore Connor McGaffic. Freshman Hunter Levesque had Pitt's lone home run of the game in her first career-hit.
- In a battle of the bats, the Panthers fell in game two of the day to the host team, 10-7. The game was a back-and-forth affair as each team led twice before Fullerton remained ahead. The game consisted of 17 total runs, 21 hits and six errors, as five of those plagued the Panthers.
- On Sunday, Feb. 11, Pitt's final game of the tournament ended in a tie due to a drop dead time limit despite the Panthers taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth. However, time expired, leaving a leading Pitt squad from winning as the game reverted back to the conclusion of the eighth.
GOING YARD
- In their opening weekend, the Panthers posted 32 hits, 14 of which were for extra bases, including seven home runs.
- Pitt's seven home runs is tied for first in the ACC with Florida State.
- Six different players hit produced a long ball, including two by senior Giorgiana Zeremenko. Zeremenko was the leading home run hitter for Pitt the past two seasons including 2016 when she set the single-season record with 17.
LOCAL LEADER
- Local product Olivia Gray, who hails from Washington, Pa., just south of Pittsburgh and attended Trinity High School, has grown to become one of Pitt's top players.
- The Panthers starting third baseman for the second consecutive year and leadoff batter, Gray hit .353 in the team's opening weekend boasting a team-leading six hits, including one triple and four runs scored.
- The junior boasts a .308 career average with 86 hits and a .498 slugging percentage.
TAKING ONE (OR MORE) FOR THE TEAM
- Senior Erin Hershman leads the ACC in hit by pitch after taking three for the team in the opening weekend of play.
UP NEXT
- Pitt will travel to South Carolina to participate in the Chanticleer Showdown Feb. 23-25. The Panthers will face three total teams including Georgetown, Saint Joseph's and host Coastal Carolina.
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Players Mentioned
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