Pitt
Kent State
Kent State Tops Pittsburgh in Both Games of Doubleheader
4/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 8, 2002
KENT, Ohio- The Pittsburgh softball team's four-game winning streak ended with two losses to the Kent State Golden Flashes on Thursday afternoon. Kent State won the first game, 2-1, in eight innings and by a 5-0 count in the nightcap.
The Golden Flashes (12-10) put up a 1-0 lead in the first game with a single and two walks in the bottom of the third inning off of Panther starter Gina Bessolo (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood).
Pittsburgh (14-20, 2-4 Big East) tied the game with a run in the fifth inning. With one out, center fielder Beth Gill (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) singled up the middle and moved to third on a double by Jodi McGartland (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park). Senior Amy Steich (Connellsville, Pa./Connellsville) picked up the Panthers' third consecutive hit on a run-scoring single, plating Gill.
Bessolo (5-7) kept the game at 1-1 by striking out nine batters in 7 1/3 innings but the Golden Flashes won the game in the bottom of the eighth with a runner placed at second to begin the extra frame. A sacrifice bunt moved the Kent State runner to third and after an intentional walk, an error by McGartland ended the game.
The Panthers battled to a scoreless tie with Kent State through five and a half innings of the second game but the Golden Flashes came back with five runs in the bottom of the sixth off of Nikki Gasti (Carmichaels, Pa./Carmichaels) and Janelle Pepe (Connellsville, Pa./Connellsville) for the final 5-0 margin.
Gasti (7-10) allowed seven hits and four runs in 5.1 innings of work, striking out eight Golden Flash batters while walking just two. Pittsburgh had just three hits in the second game, one each by Clare McCann (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo), Kelly Hulpa (Washington, Pa./Trinity), and Gill, who extended her hitting streak to a career-long six games.
Pittsburgh will return to action at Seton Hall on Saturday in a Big East doubleheader in East Orange, N.J.
