University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Louisville
Softball Drops A Heartbreaker to No. 18 Louisville
4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 10, 2009
PITTSBURGH—After a waiting out an extended rain delay, the University of Pittsburgh softball team dropped a heartbreaking 6-5 contest to No. 18 Louisville in the second game of its doubleheader at Trees Field. The Panthers slipped to 15-20 on the year and 3-11 in the Big East, while the Cardinals improved to 36-5 on the season and 12-2 in the league.
Excitement built in the bottom of the seventh inning as freshman Niki Cognigni tallied her third double of the year, which sent junior Megan Livesey home to bring the Panthers within two, 6-4, in the contest. Livesey was on base thanks to a pinch-hit double a few batters earlier.
Cognigni would later score the fifth run for Pitt after Louisville’s second baseman muffled a groundball from second baseman Kristen Cheesebrew. Unfortunately, though, the Panthers wouldn’t score again, totaling two runs of two hits and an error.
The game first became interesting in the second inning when freshman Ciera Damon smacked a one-out first pitch over the center field wall to tie the game at two. Damon’s long ball also scored freshman Katelyn West, who was pinch running for Amanda Heitmeier. Heitmeier recorded a hit after her groundball skipped past the second baseman.
Louisville would answer and recorded a set of one-run innings through the first three frames to take an early 3-0 lead.
The Panthers wouldn’t let up either, as Cognigni would tie the game again in the bottom of the third with her second bomb of the season. She sailed a solo homerun through left field with a one-one count to keep it even.
Later, in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals threatened as sophomore Alyssa O’Connell intentionally walked a player to load the bases with two outs. O’Connell would then get the next batter to ground out to third to hold off a run.
Pitt looked to a score its own run in the bottom of the inning and take a lead, as senior Sam Card recorded a hit with a groundball up the middle as the leadoff. She was moved to second with a sacrifice bunt, but was eventually left stranded.
O’Connell (8-3) recorded her fourth complete game of the year, giving up eight hits and three earned runs in the loss.
Pitt hosts Villanova at noon on Saturday.
