Pitt Begins 2022 Campaign in Northern Lights Invitational

PITTSBURGH – The 2022 Pitt softball campaign begins in sunny Leesburg, Fla., in the Northern Lights Invitational at Sleepy Hallow Complex Friday morning.

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LEADING OFF

Pitt softball opens the 2022 campaign in the Northern Lights Southern Nights Invitational in Leesburg, Fla. The Panthers' first game is Friday, Feb. 11 versus Michigan State at 10 AM.
The weekend trip to the sunshine state is the first of five-straight trips on the road. This is the second consecutive year the Panthers begin the season in Leesburg, Fla.

POWER AND SPEED RETURN

The Panthers bring back all three All-ACC players from a season ago in senior Sarah Seamans, junior EC Taylor and sophomore Cami Compson.
Seamans received Second Team accolades after finishing 2021 fourth in the league in homers (13), 12th in slugging % (.647), T-10th in total bases (86) and 10th in RBI (35).
Taylor made an immediate impact for the Panthers as one of the nation's fastest players on the base paths. She finished fourth in the ACC in stolen bases (27) and T-2nd in stolen bases per game (.63). The transfer from Florida was named to the All-ACC Third Team.
Compson ended 2021 second among all freshman hitters in the ACC with 11 homers. She led the team in batting average (.325) and OPS (1.033) while totaling 41 hits, 29 RBI and a team-best .407 on-base percentage. She earned Third Team and Freshman Team honors.

HERMANEK ADDS THREE FROM TRANSFER PORTAL

Pitt added three new faces to the team with past collegiate experience in senior Yvonne Whaley, junior Kat Rodriguez and graduate student Ally Muraskin.
Whaley, a middle infielder from Houston, Texas, played three seasons at Texas Tech from 2019-21. Last season, she led the Red Raiders offensively with a team-high .342 batting average, 50 hits, nine doubles and tied for first with 24 runs and a .381 on-base percentage.
Rodriguez played two seasons at Quinnipiac from 2020-21 as an infielder, including one season under Panther assistant coach Bianka Bell, who held the same title at Quinnipiac. The Pembroke Pines, Fla., native also led her team offensively last season with a .352 batting average and a .880 OPS. She tallied team-highs in hits (43), runs (24), doubles (8), total bases (59) and slugging percentage (.484).
Muraskin recently joined the team in January after playing fall ball with Jacksonville as a righthanded pitcher. Prior to that, she played three seasons at Florida International from 2018-20 and one season at Division II USC-Beaufort in 2021. From Wellington, Fla., she enters with a Division I career 2.82 ERA with 176 strikeouts in 250 innings pitched.

SIX TRUE FRESHMAN BEGIN COLLEGIATE CAREERS

Of the nine new faces in the Pitt softball program, six are true freshman playing in their first collegiate season.
Kendall Brown and Haylie Brunson hail from Pennsylvania, where Brown went to Phoenixville Area High School in Phoenixville, Pa., and Brunson Mount Pleasant High School in nearby Mount Pleasant, Pa.
Kylie Griggs attended Perrysburg High School in Perrysburg, Ohio, while Rachael Fuerst comes from West Seneca, N.Y., attending West Seneca East Senior High School.
Both Ana Hernandez and Amanda "Tuta" Ramirez are Miami, Fla., natives with Hernandez attending Coral Reef High School and Ramirez Doral Academy Preparatory.

UP NEXT

The Panthers head to College Station, Texas, to participate in the Texas A&M Invitational, hosted by Texas A&M.
Pitt plays two games Friday, Feb. 18 and two games Saturday, Feb. 19. It opens the Invitational with Missouri State at 10 AM Friday.