University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt Softball Releases 2015 Fall Schedule
9/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
PITTSBURGH – University of Pittsburgh head softball coach Holly Aprile has announced the Panthers’ 2015-16 fall schedule. The Panthers will be home for most of its f­­all season, hosting six of its eight games at Vartabedian Field in the Petersen Sports Complex.
Pitt is set to take on Slippery Rock, West Virginia Wesleyan, St. Francis (Pa.), and Penn State in doubleheader matchups throughout the fall.
The Panthers will open their fall schedule at the Petersen Sports Complex on Sept. 13, hosting Slippery Rock University in a Noon doubleheader. The Rock finished their 2015 season with an overall record of 15-23, while finishing 12-16 in PSAC play. Slippery Rock will return seven of its nine starters from last year including Katie Kaiser, who will look to lead the offense after batting .353 the previous season.
The following weekend on September 19, Pitt will host West Virginia Wesleyan for two games beginning at 1 p.m. The Lady Bobcats ended their season with a record of 38-10 after advancing to the Division II Super-Regionals. The team will look to Brooklyn Waddell, who batted .483 throughout the 2015 season to help lead West Virginia Wesleyan’s offensive surge. Hannah Vet will also return to the mound after recording a 1.73 ERA in 166.1 innings pitched the last year.
On September 26 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., the Panthers will welcome St. Francis University to Vartabedian Field. The Red Flash closed the 2015 season with a 31-19 overall record and a 9-7 NEC record. The Red Flash lost Taylor Parsons to graduation, who earned NFCA All-Region honors and NEC Player of The Year in 2015. The team will now rely on returning NEC First Team honorees Alexis Bower and Madison Cabell.
To close out its fall season, Pitt will travel to University Park, Pa., on October 4 to take on Penn State in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions finished ninth in the Big Ten conference with a 9-14 record and had an overall record of 29-28. The addition of incoming freshman Toni Polk, New York’s Gatorade State Softball Player of the Year, should add a spark to lineup for the upcoming season.
The Panthers enter the fall season following a record-breaking 2015 season where they earned their first NCAA Tournament invitation in program history and advanced to the regional finals. After making Pitt’s first conference tournament, the Panthers went on to upset higher seeds Notre Dame and North Carolina in order to make the team’s first ACC championship game appearance. With the winningest season in school history, Pitt ended its season with a 37-22 record and will look to build upon its recent success.
Follow the team on Twitter at @PittSoftball for more updates.
