Pitt
Louisville
Bravo Smacks Her 15th Double of the Season
5/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 13, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Three errors prove to be costly, as the University of Pittsburgh softball team dropped a 9-1 contest to Louisville in the quarterfinals of the Big East Championships, this evening at Ulmer Stadium. Pitt’s season ends at 27-25, while the Cardinals improved to 38-16 overall.
The game started evenly, as the Panthers tied the contest at 1-1 in the top of the second inning. Sophomore Jessica Rhodunda would score the run on a passed ball. Rhodunda was in the game after replacing classmate Yvette Bravo on base. Rhodunda moved to third when sophomore Amanda Heitmeier recorded a sacrifice ground out. Two batters later, Rhodunda ran home when Louisville’s catcher missed a pitch and lost the ball behind her.
In that inning, Bravo recorded her 15th double of the season. She ends the year ranked second overall in the single-season record book. Earlier this season, Bravo led the Panthers with a nine-game hitting streak and had seven games with two or more RBI.
Junior Cory Berliner (13-10) took the loss, giving up one earned run on six hits in two innings of work. Junior Alyssa O’Connell pitched 3.1 innings of relief and allowed four earned runs off nine hits.
Louisville scored in the opening inning, when a base runner stole third and continued home on a misfired throw.
Later, Pitt looked as if it was going to hold off an offensive spurt from the Cardinals in the bottom of the second inning. With one out and the bases loaded, sophomore Niki Cognigni caught a pop up to short stop for the second out. Then on the next at-bat, Berliner was called for an illegal pitch, which scored a run. The batter then hit an infield single that would score two when the Panthers recorded an error on the play. Louisville led 4-1 after two innings of action.
The game ended in the bottom of the sixth, as the Cards scored another five runs off six hits and a Pitt error.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Panthers made some great defensive stands to keep the Cards off the board. With a runner on and a long battle at the plate, Bravo caught a line drive that painted the right field line. Centerfielder Reba Tutt then sprinted in to make a diving catch behind second plate for the second out. Tutt recognized that the runner on second didn’t tag and tossed the ball to Cognigni for the Panthers’ 15th double play of the season.
Junior Ashley Amistade opened the game with a single up the middle, while sophomore Keli Gaynor singled in the sixth for the Panthers.
Pitt was playing in its fourth Big East Championship game, in the last five seasons.
