Panthers Drop Two on Opening Day

Friday, February 12

Leesburg, Fla.

11 AM

Pitt

0-1

Liberty

1-0

Liberty

Pittsburgh

Photo by: Justin Pondexter/Pitt Athletics

Panthers Drop Two on Opening Day

2/12/2021 7:04:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Liberty Box Score NMSU Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

LEESBURG, Fla. – The University of Pittsburgh softball team dropped two games Friday afternoon in the first day of The Spring Games.

Pitt (0-2) fell, 10-4, to Liberty (2-0) in game one and 6-3 to New Mexico State (1-1) in game two.

NEWS & NOTES

Multiple players made their Panther debut, including sophomore transfer EC Taylor and freshmen Dani Drogemuller, Kaitlyn Burdick, and Cami Compson.
Junior Katlyn Pavlick led the offense with three hits in six at-bats while also recording an RBI.
Senior Chandler Walter went 2-for-5 with a double and RBI, while senior Morgan Batesole led the Panthers with two RBI on the day.

"Day one outcomes definitely doesn't define who this team is and what we are capable of," said head coach Jodi Hermanek. "We've got many more innings to play and pitches to be won, games to be won, so we look forward to tomorrow's double-header and to get on the Diamond and perform to our capabilities as a unit and individually."

Game One
Liberty jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after the first inning and went up 8-0 with five runs scored in the fourth. Taylor led off the bottom of the fourth with the first hit for the Panthers, followed by a Pavlick RBI single to score Taylor for the first run of the day. Senior LoLo Sanchez tripled to right center in the bottom half of the fifth, scoring Walter to make it an 8-2 ballgame, but Liberty answered the next inning with an RBI single from Madison Via.

Batesole recorded the second extra base hit of the game for Pitt in the sixth, driving in two runs and cutting the Lady Flames lead to five (9-4). Liberty added one more in the top half of the seventh, and won by final score of 10-4.

Drogemuller recorded three strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched in her collegiate debut. Redshirt senior Brittany Knight added two of her own in relief.

Game Two
Sophomore Becca Miller got the start for the Panthers in game two against the Aggies. New Mexico State scored one run in the first off a throwing error and two runs in the bottom of the third off a Nikki Butler single and a Matalasi Faapito sac fly.

Walter doubled to center in the fifth, bringing in sophomore Sarah Seamans to dwindle the Aggie lead to two (3-1). New Mexico State answered the next half inning with one run, making it a 4-1 game with two innings to play.

The Panthers got within one run in the top of the sixth, as Taylor and senior Hunter Levesque took advantage of multiple throwing errors by the Aggies and scored two runs (4-3). New Mexico State answered with a two-run homerun the next half inning from Ramsay Lopez and took a 6-3 lead.

We are proud of some great offensive moments of clutching up with runners in scoring position from the top to bottom of our line-up, "stated Hermanek. "We're just getting started and we will continue to grind our gears and compete."

Pitt is back on the field tomorrow for a double-header in its final day at The Spring Games against Middle Tennessee (10 AM) and Liberty (12:30 PM). All games will be streamed on Flo Softball.

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