University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Softball Garners Second-Ever Big East Championship Berth
5/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 7, 2007
Coach Phalen on Making the Big East Tournament
PROVIDENCE, R.I.--For the second-consecutive season Pitt's softball team earned a berth in the Big East Championships to be held May 10-13 at the Belleville Softball Complex in South Bend, Ind. The Panthers garnered its second-ever tournament bid as the No. 7 seed and face No. 2 USF on Thursday, May 10 at 12:30 p.m.
Pitt (23-34, 8-11) enter the contest following a bye week in conference play. The Panthers are led by junior Jessica Dignon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) with a .305 batting average, 33 runs and 13 doubles. Dignon's 13 doubles ties a single-season school record, last set by teammate Joey Scarf (Humble, Texas/Humble) in 2006.
Senior Sheena Hellon (Sacramento, Calif./Cordova) leads the Panthers with a school-record 31 stolen bases. She has set records in single-game (4) and career (64) steals, as well. As a team, the Panthers have stolen 113 bases, which surpassed the 2006 record of 85 stolen bases.
On the mound the Panthers are led by senior Meghan Bostick (Colleyville, Texas/Grapevine) with a 2.94 ERA and 114 strikeouts. Classmate Laura Belardinelli (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott) has thrown a team-leading 122.2 innings and posted her record-setting 44th career win this season.
The Bulls (43-21, 15-5) are led by Danielle Urbanik with a .385 batting average and six home runs. USF enters the tournament following a 4-0 Big East weekend.
The Panthers are 2-5 in the Pitt-USF series. The squad last won when they defeated then-ranked USF in the first round of the BEC with a two-run homer that lifted the Panthers to their first-ever tournament victory and their first-ever win over a ranked opponent.
The Big East Championships is a three-day single-elimination tournament that is comprised of the league's top eight teams seeded by winning percentage in conference play. The winner of the 2007 BIG EAST Softball Championship will receive the league's automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The BIG EAST Championship game will be broadcast live on CSTV at 5:30 on May 12.
