University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Aprile Announces 2009 Softball Schedule
12/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Dec. 2, 2008
PITTSBURGH-Head Softball Coach Holly Aprile announced the University of Pittsburgh’s 2009 spring schedule. The Panthers will play 30 non-conference games and 24 Big East Conference games.
The Panthers open the season on the road with 18 games in four tournaments. Pitt first travels to Boca Raton, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 6, for the three-day Florida Atlantic Tournament, where it faces Long Island, Michigan, Massachusetts, host Florida Atlantic and Maryland.
The Pitt-UMass contest will be a reunion of sorts, as Aprile was a 2005 Hall of Fame honoree after being named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, three times. The Minutewomen finished 23rd in last season’s poll.
Next, the Panthers head to the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Tournament on Friday, Feb. 20, for a round-robin against Dayton, Loyola, Minnesota and host Texas A&M CC. Then the Panthers travel to UAB’s tournament from Friday, Feb. 27, through March 1.
Moving north, the Panthers will be in Washington, D.C. for the George Washington Invitational on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8. The Panthers then finish up their tour with a doubleheader against UNC Charlotte on Wednesday, March 11, before playing in the three-day Winthrop Invitational, beginning Friday, March 13.
Pitt will then get a chance to play in front of a home crowd at Trees Field on March 20, as Big East play begins against Georgetown. The Panthers will also host five doubleheaders against Big East opponents, including Connecticut (April 1), Louisville (April 10), Villanova (April 11), Rutgers (May 2) and USF (May 3).
The team will be on the road for conference doubleheaders against Syracuse (March 27), St. Johns (March 29), Notre Dame (April 4), DePaul (April 5), Seton Hall (April 18) and Providence (April 19).
Pitts’s remaining non-conference matches include Robert Morris (March 17) and Youngstown State (April 29) on the road, while playing Penn State (March 25) and Buffalo (Apr. 14) at Trees Field.
The Panthers open postseason play in the Big East Tournament on May 7 in Louisville, KY., seeking their fourth consecutive berth.
Pitt finished its fall season with a 5-1 record, introducing 10 freshmen to the team.
