Pitt Softball Splits Home Opener Against UNC

Saturday, March 19

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1:00 PM

Pitt

17-8, 0

North Carolina

13-13, 0

North Carolina

Pitt

Pitt Softball Splits Home Opener Against UNC

3/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

March 19, 2016

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score | Season Statistics

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh softball team split its doubleheader with ACC foe North Carolina in its home opener Saturday afternoon at Vartabedian Field. After winning the first game 7-3, the Panthers fell to the Tar Heels 13-3 in six innings in the second.

Game one marked Pitt’s (17-8, 1-4 ACC) first conference win of the season and was also the 200^th career win of head coach Holly Aprile.

The Panthers racked up 18 hits from seven different players between the two games.

Sophomore Giorgiana Zeremenko continued to hit well, as she went 3-for-7 with five RBIs and two home runs.

Freshman Olivia Gray had a career day, as she hit her first homer as a Panther in game one and went on to smack two doubles in game two. The freshman finished the afternoon going 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Sophomore pitcher Kayla Harris threw a complete game one and allowed five hits as she picked up her eighth win of the season.

GAME ONE: PITT 7, NORTH CAROLINA 3

The Panthers plated their first run after a single from senior Jenna Modic advanced redshirt senior Shelby Pickett to third, and Pickett then crossed the plate on a fielding error by UNC catcher Leah Murray. The next batter was Zeremenko and she launched her team-high seventh homer of the season to give the Panthers an early 3-0 lead.

Pitt plated two more in the bottom of the third to take a 5-0 lead. Zeremenko followed a Modic double with an RBI double of her own. Sophomore Erin Hershman laid down a bunt, and a wild throw by UNC pitcher Kendra Lynch allowed pinch runner Ashlee Sills to score from second base.

The Tar Heels got back in the game in the sixth inning on a three-run homer by second baseman Taylor Wike, but Pitt added an insurance run in the home half of the inning when Gray hit her first career home run, which cleared the left center fence, giving Pitt a 6-3 cushion.

GAME TWO: PITT 3, NORTH CAROLINA 13 (SIX INNINGS)

The Tar Heels plated three runs in the first inning to gain a 3-0 lead. UNC got its first two batters aboard, and both came home following a three-run homer to left center.

Neither team would score again until the top of the fifth inning when the Tar Heels’ Destiny DeBerry was brought in on a Brown groundout to short.

UNC brought nine runs across in the top of the sixth inning. After an Aquilla Mateen single and a Panther error, Katie Bailiff scored the first run of the inning for North Carolina. With one away, Taylor Wike smacked a two RBI double to left center. Pitt elected to walk Brown, who had already homered on the day, to bring up Berlynne Delamora. Delamora crushed a three-run home run to center field to put UNC up 8-0. The Tar Heels would go back-to-back as pitcher Kendra Lynch lined a ball over the left center wall. Following a walk, UNC posted another home run which drove in two more make the score 13-0 in favor of North Carolina.

Pitt put up three runs in bottom of the sixth inning but it wasn’t enough to catch the Tar Heels. After ripping a single through left side, Modic was brought in by Zeremenko as she smacked a home run to center for her second of the day. Hershman reached on an error and advanced to third by way of a Kaitlin Manuel single. Gray drove in Hershman when she lined a doubled to right center but that would be all the runs the Panthers would score.

UP NEXT

Pitt and UNC will conclude the series tomorrow, Sunday March 20 at Noon.

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