April 19, 2008

Box Score

PITTSBURGH--Junior Samantha Card blasted her ninth homer of the season, as Pitt's softball team earned the sweep with a 5-2 victory over Seton Hall in the second game of today's doubleheader at Trees Field. The Panthers are now 26-17 overall and 9-5 in the Big East, while the Pirates are 17-28 and 4-12 in the conference.

Card (Miami, Fla./Our Lady of Lourdes/Florida International) tallied her season-leading ninth homer in the third inning to lift Pitt to a 3-0 lead in the contest. Her two-out bomb also tied her second with two others in the single-season record book.

Earlier in the contest, Card scored the first run of the game off a single from sophomore Kayla Zinger (Phoenix, Ariz./Sunnyslope). Zinger was then replaced on base by senior Kelly Murphy (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury), who scored when the Pirates muffled a groundball from sophomore Megan Livesey (Livingston, N.J./The Montclair Kimberly Academy).

Seton Hall ended the shutout with a homerun in the fourth and added another run in the seventh off two doubles.

Later in the game, Pitt went up 4-1 after senior Jessica Dignon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) stole second base and scored in the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to center from Card.

Card was 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI in the contest.

The Panthers' final run of the game was tallied when senior Mary Hecker (Roseville, Calif./Roseville) scored a few plays later.

Zinger improved to 11-8 in the circle. She struck out three batters and allowed five hits in the game.

Pitt hosts St. John's in a doubleheader at noon on Sunday, April 20.