University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Softball Earns Its Third Consecutive BEC Berth
5/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 4, 2008
PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Recording a school record 12 Big East wins this season, the University of Pittsburgh softball team earned its third consecutive Big East Championship berth and enter the tournament as the seventh seed, facing No. 2 seed DePaul at 12:30 p.m., on Thursday, May 8, in Louisville, Ky. The winner of the Pitt-DePaul game faces the winner of No. 3 Connecticut and No. 6 Syracuse on Friday, May 9, at 2:30 p.m.
Coming off a 7-3 victory over No. 23 DePaul (45-16, 16-6 BE), the Panthers (31-24, 12-10 BE) recorded their fourth victory over a ranked opponent this season. In the win, sophomore Kayla Zinger (Phoenix, Ariz./Sunnyslope) posted her 13th victory of the season on the mound, while sophomore Megan Livesey (Livingston, N.J./the Montclair Kimberly Academy) drove in the winning run with a shallow hit to center field in the sixth inning.
Zinger holds a 1.42 ERA and seven wins in league games this season. Sharing the bulk of the pitching duties this season, freshman Cory Berliner (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain) has struck out 148 batters on the season and sits on a single-season record for wins at 16.
Junior Samantha Card (Miami, Fla./Our Lady of Lourdes/Florida International) led Pitt during its final regular-season conference games with a .444 batting average and was a perfect 4-4 in stolen bases.
On the season, Card leads with a .394 average at the plate and boasts an impressive 12 home runs and 44 RBI on the year. She and senior Jessica Dignon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) top the single-season RBI record list, as Dignon has 43 to date. Additionally, Dignon holds the single-season records for doubles (17) and runs scored (42).
Freshman Reba Tutt (Culpeper, Va./Highland) leads the team with 26 stolen bases, which stands at second in the single-season record books. Tutt has scored 37 runs on the year and garnered 13 extra base hits.
Pitt won its first contest in the six-game series against the Blue Demons on Sunday.
