Panthers Begin Pirate Invite Saturday

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The University of Pittsburgh softball team continues its stretch of road games this weekend at the Pirate Invite in Greenville, N.C., on the campus of East Carolina University.

The Panthers face Towson Saturday at 11 a.m. before facing host school ECU at 4 p.m. Pitt wraps up competition Sunday morning at 10 a.m. against East Carolina.

Originally scheduled as a three-day invitational, Friday's games were canceled due to weather in the Greenville area Thursday night and Friday morning.

LEADING OFF

Pitt continues its six-week road stretch at the Pirate Invite in Greenville, N.C., playing three games beginning Saturday, Feb. 21.

THE SCHEDULE

The Panthers open the Pirate Invite with Towson Saturday, Feb. 22 and play host school East Carolina at 4 p.m. the same day.
Pitt concludes the Pirate Invite Sunday against ECU at 10 a.m.
Due to weather in the Greenville, N.C., area Thursday night and Friday morning, Friday's games were cancelled. The Panthers were set to play UMass twice this weekend, but both of those contests have been removed from schedule.

POWERFUL PAVLICK

Sophomore Katlyn Pavlick has showed her muscle through the first nine games of the season.
The South Park, Pa., native leads the team in batting average (.370), OPS (1.156), on-base percentage (.452), RBIs (10) and hits (10).
Pavlick is tied for eighth in the ACC in runs (8), home runs (2) and total bases (19), all of which are team-bests.
Pavlick went 5-for-12 with five RBIs, one double, a home run and four runs last weekend in four games in the ACC/B1G Challenge against Michigan State and Maryland.

KNIGHT FEVER

Redshirt Junior Brittany Knight had a career weekend in the ACC/B1G Challenge last weekend and currently sits in the top-five in multiple categories in the ACC.
The Windham, Ohio native is fifth in the ACC in strikeouts (32), tied second in complete games (2), fourth in innings pitched (34.1), third in strikeouts looking (11) and tied for second in wins (4).
Knight holds a 3.06 ERA in six appearances and has a WHIP of 1.61.
At the ACC/B1G Challenge, Knight broke her career-high single game strikeout record with nine Ks vs. Michigan State. Knight followed that performance up with nine strikeouts vs. Maryland, throwing 18 strikeouts in 12.2 innings of action.

A NEW HOPE

Freshman Hope Alley has made her presence known early this season, collecting six hits, three RBIs and batting .261.
The Pleasanton, Calif., native is second on the team in assists with 12 and has a .962 fielding percentage through 10 games at shortstop.
Alley registered THE first RBI of her career on Feb. 15 against Maryland, going 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk in the Panthers' 8-5 victory.

ON THE HUNT

Junior Hunter Levesque enjoyed a productive weekend at the ACC/B1G Challenge in Clemson, going 5-for-11 with three runs, one double and five walks.
Her six walks on the season lead the team while her .440 slugging pct. is fourth on the squad.
Levesque made a diving grab to her right to end the third inning against San Diego in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, ultimately earning a spot on the NCAA Softball Top Five Plays list at number five.

SANCHEZ'S HOT START

Junior transfer LoLo Sanchez has started the 2020 campaign on a high note, batting .346 (second on team) and tallying a .419 on-base percentage (tied second on team).
Sanchez is second on the squad with nine hits while also tied for second in total bases with 11.
The Stockton, Calif., native went 8-for-14 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, earning her Pitt Office Depot Student-Athlete of the Week.
The Troy, N.Y., native hit a home run and scored two runs against Cal Poly on Feb. 7.

MORGAN IN THE CLUTCH

Junior Morgan Batesole came up big for the Panthers on Feb. 14 vs. Michigan State, delivering a walk-off single to defeat the Spartans 3-2.
Tied with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Walnut Creek, Calif., native hit a single up the middle, scoring Hope Alley to give Pitt the victory. The Panthers were down 2-1 with two outs a no one on in the bottom of the seventh before the rally was capped off by Batesole.
She recorded four hits, three RBIs, one triple and turned a double play in the ACC/B1G Challenge.

THE SERIES - EAST CAROLINA

The Panthers and Pirates meet for the fifth time in program history Friday, Feb. 21.
ECU holds a 3-1 advantage over Pitt in its previous four meetings. The Pirates defeated the Panthers, 8-3, in their last meeting on March 10, 2017.
Pitt last defeated ECU on March 9, 2017 with a 5-2 victory.

SCOUTING THE PIRATES

The host school enters the weekend 5-5 with a 3-2 record at home.
The Pirates are led offensively by Ashleigh Inae and Olivia Narron. Inae is already atop of the American Conference offensive charts, as she is first in on base percentage (.588), second in batting average (.440) and tied for second in walks (7). Narron is hitting .364 with a team-best 12 hits, five walks a team-high seven steals.
The Pirates pitching staff have all appeared in at least four games, with Logyn Estes leading the charge with 20.0 innings pitched. Estes is currently 3-0 and holds a 1.75 ERA, one shutout and has K'd 12.
Through 10 games, ECU is a proven defensive team, committing a conference low six errors on the season. The Pirates' fielding percentage of .979 leads the conference and is 26th in the nation. Amelia Jarecke leads the Terrapins in the circle, as she is 1-0 on the season with 11 strikeouts in 10.2 innings of work. Jarecke enters the weekend with a 3.94 ERA and a complete game under her belt.

THE SERIES - TOWSON

Pitt faces its second of five teams this season in which it has never met before, as Friday, Feb. 22 will be the first meeting between the Panthers and the Tigers.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

Towson enters the weekend 4-3 overall and holds the same record in neutral site games. Julia Smith-Harrington is already making a case for CAA Player of the Year. The senior is fourth in the conference and 36th nationally in batting average (.500) and fifth in the CAA in slugging pct. (.864).
Smith-Harrington is one of 13 players nationally to hold a 0.00 ERA. She is 2-0 with two complete game shutouts over 14.0 innings of work with 10 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .160.
Samantha Carson has played one less game than Towson's total, but leads the team in slugging pct. (1.000) and is tied for first on the squad with six RBIs. Her three home runs is also tied for second in the conference.

UP NEXT

Pitt opens up ACC play Friday, Feb. 28 against North Carolina starting at 6 p.m.
The three-game series concludes Sunday, March 1 at 12 p.m.

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Panthers Begin Pirate Invite Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hope Alley

Morgan Batesole

Brittany Knight

Hunter Levesque

Katlyn Pavlick

LoLo Sanchez

Panthers Begin Pirate Invite Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hope Alley

Morgan Batesole

Brittany Knight

Hunter Levesque

Katlyn Pavlick

LoLo Sanchez

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