April 15, 2008

Box Score

PITTSBURGH--Scoring six runs in the first inning lifts Pitt softball to a 9-0 shutout over Robert Morris in five innings, as the Panthers sweep their doubleheader at Trees Field, this afternoon.

Pitt (24-17) only left two runners on base in the game and scored six runs off four hits in the first inning.

The first run of the game came off a wild pitch, as freshman Ashley Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity) touched home for the eventual winning run.

A few plays later senior Mary Hecker (Roseville, Calif./Roseville) skipped a two-RBI shot through the middle. On the next at-bat, sophomore Kayla Zinger (Phoenix, Ariz./Sunnyslope) dropped a ball in shallow center field for a RBI, allowing Hecker to score.

Senior Kelly Murphy (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) then entered the game for Zinger on base and scored her second run of the year when she stole home after the Colonials' (18-16) catcher attempted to catch freshman Alicia Broudy (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) stealing second.

Broudy would later score the final run of the inning, but Amistade would score her second run of the game in the second inning off a sacrifice fly from senior Jessica Dignon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin).

Later in the third inning, senior Kelly Stiles (Thurmont, Md./Catocin) tripled off the right field wall to score Zinger. Stiles then scored when sophomore Megan Livesey (Livingston, N.J./The Montclair Kimberly Academy) singled up the middle for the third hit of the inning.

Pitt's win marked the 13th shutout of the season, improving upon the record of 11 shutouts in 2000. This is also the Panthers second shutout in the last three games, and Zinger's second consecutive.

Zinger won her fifth combined shutout of the season, pitching the first four innings and holding the Colonials to five hits. She improved to 10-8 in the victory.

Defensively, Pitt turned double plays in back-to-back innings and now boasts 14 on the year. The first of the two was in the third, where Stiles fielded a ground ball and ran to tag the runner headed to second. After making the tag she turned a fired the ball to Broudy for the final out of the inning.

Then in the fourth, Dignon scooped up a ground ball and tagged second, while turning to Broudy and gunning down the runner headed to first.

Hecker led the Panthers going 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run.

Pitt hosts Seton Hall in a doubleheader at 11 a.m., on Saturday, April 19, at Trees Field.