Sunday, April 22
Pittsburgh, Pa.
12:00 PM EST
Pitt
26-16-1, 14-6
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12-35, 3-18
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Virginia
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Photo by: Alex Mowrey/Pitt Athletics
Panthers Dominate Cavaliers, 12-1, En Route to Series Sweep
4/22/2018 3:10:00 PM | Softball
Pitt Moves into Sole Ownership of ACC’s Coastal Division.
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh softball team earned its first three-game series sweep of the season after picking up a 12-1 [five innings] victory against Virginia Sunday afternoon at Vartabedian Field in Pittsburgh.
The win marks the Panthers [26-16-1, 14-6 ACC] 14th conference victory of the year and gives Pitt sole ownership of the top spot in the coastal division in the ACC. With the sweep, the 2018 squad has surpassed the record for most ACC wins in a season, which the inaugural team set back in 2015 with 11 victories.
Senior Kayla Harris was phenomenal for the Panthers in the win, giving up just one run in the opening inning of play before shutting down the Cavaliers [12-35, 3-18 ACC] throughout the final four frames. Harris allowed just seven hits and one walk in the contest.
Pitt's offense gave Harris all the run support needed, as the home team scored a season-high 12 runs behind 10 hits from eight different players. Six different players tallied RBIs in the game including two from senior Erin Hershman and juniors Olivia Gray and Alexis Solak.
Gray was solid in the game, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs, in addition to the two RBIs. In the series, Gray finished with five hits in 10 at-bats, including a home run and two doubles. She scored four runs, while tallying five total RBIs.
Freshman Hunter Levesque, who came up with the walkoff single in game two of the series Saturday, finished perfect at the plate with two hits and a walk, while scoring twice and tallying an RBI.
Scoring Summary: Pitt 12, Virginia 1
With her fourth home run of the weekend, junior Olivia Gott put Virginia on the board in the opening inning of play.
Pitt answered in the bottom half of the frame with three runs on three hits and a UVA error to take a 3-1 lead. The inning began with senior McKayla Taylor singling on a hard hit chopper to short and moving to second on a groundout by senior Giorgiana Zeremenko. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Taylor later crossed the plate on a rip by Gray over the left fielder's head. Levesque continued the inning with a single up the middle, putting runners on first and second for Solak. A long fly ball to left center allowed both Gray and Levesque to tag up and advance a base. An error by the Cavaliers then allowed both runners to score, as a hard hit grounder by sophomore Kaitlyn Kruger went through the legs of the third baseman.
The Panthers continued their show at the plate in the bottom of the second, adding two runs to their total to extend their lead to 6-1. Two of the three runs came courtesy of a long ball by Hershman, while the third came on a bases-loaded walk to Levesque.
A six-run inning in the bottom of the fourth propelled Pitt to a run-rule victory, as the Panthers more than doubled their lead to 12-1. Pitt earned two free passes to start the frame as a pitch hit Taylor and Zeremenko drew a walk. Four straight singles by Gray, Levesque, Solak and Kruger continued the inning, extending the score to 10-1. Looking for one more score to put the run-rule into play, pinch hitter Taylor Stimson roped her first career single up the middle to give the Panthers an eight-run lead and the eventual victory.
Up Next
Pitt will take a break from ACC Play to host Marshall, Saturday April 28 in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
#H2P | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
The win marks the Panthers [26-16-1, 14-6 ACC] 14th conference victory of the year and gives Pitt sole ownership of the top spot in the coastal division in the ACC. With the sweep, the 2018 squad has surpassed the record for most ACC wins in a season, which the inaugural team set back in 2015 with 11 victories.
Senior Kayla Harris was phenomenal for the Panthers in the win, giving up just one run in the opening inning of play before shutting down the Cavaliers [12-35, 3-18 ACC] throughout the final four frames. Harris allowed just seven hits and one walk in the contest.
Pitt's offense gave Harris all the run support needed, as the home team scored a season-high 12 runs behind 10 hits from eight different players. Six different players tallied RBIs in the game including two from senior Erin Hershman and juniors Olivia Gray and Alexis Solak.
Gray was solid in the game, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs, in addition to the two RBIs. In the series, Gray finished with five hits in 10 at-bats, including a home run and two doubles. She scored four runs, while tallying five total RBIs.
Freshman Hunter Levesque, who came up with the walkoff single in game two of the series Saturday, finished perfect at the plate with two hits and a walk, while scoring twice and tallying an RBI.
Scoring Summary: Pitt 12, Virginia 1
With her fourth home run of the weekend, junior Olivia Gott put Virginia on the board in the opening inning of play.
Pitt answered in the bottom half of the frame with three runs on three hits and a UVA error to take a 3-1 lead. The inning began with senior McKayla Taylor singling on a hard hit chopper to short and moving to second on a groundout by senior Giorgiana Zeremenko. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Taylor later crossed the plate on a rip by Gray over the left fielder's head. Levesque continued the inning with a single up the middle, putting runners on first and second for Solak. A long fly ball to left center allowed both Gray and Levesque to tag up and advance a base. An error by the Cavaliers then allowed both runners to score, as a hard hit grounder by sophomore Kaitlyn Kruger went through the legs of the third baseman.
The Panthers continued their show at the plate in the bottom of the second, adding two runs to their total to extend their lead to 6-1. Two of the three runs came courtesy of a long ball by Hershman, while the third came on a bases-loaded walk to Levesque.
A six-run inning in the bottom of the fourth propelled Pitt to a run-rule victory, as the Panthers more than doubled their lead to 12-1. Pitt earned two free passes to start the frame as a pitch hit Taylor and Zeremenko drew a walk. Four straight singles by Gray, Levesque, Solak and Kruger continued the inning, extending the score to 10-1. Looking for one more score to put the run-rule into play, pinch hitter Taylor Stimson roped her first career single up the middle to give the Panthers an eight-run lead and the eventual victory.
Up Next
Pitt will take a break from ACC Play to host Marshall, Saturday April 28 in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
#H2P | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harris, Kayla (11-1)
L: T. Dabney (0-10)
Batting:
HR: O. Gott 1
RBI: O. Gott 1
Base Running:
RUNS: O. Gott 1
CS: A. Davis 1
Batting:
HR: Hershman, Erin 1
RBI: Gray, Olivia 2 ; Levesque, Hunter 1 ; Solak, Alexis 2 ; Kruger, Kaitlyn 1 ; Hershman, Erin 2 ; Stimson, Taylor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Myers, Taylor 3 ; DeMatteo, Marissa 1 ; Gray, Olivia 2 ; Levesque, Hunter 2 ; Solak, Alexis 1 ; Kruger, Kaitlyn 1 ; Batesole, Morgan 1 ; Hershman, Erin 1
HBP: Myers, Taylor 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
2
R
3
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF/INF
/ SoftballOF/INF
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
C/INF
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