The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team finished its trip to Florida with a split. The Panthers fell, 7-4, to Nichols College in the opener, before finishing the day with a 5-3 victory over Minnesota Morris. 

"It was great to end the trip with a win, although I thought we gave away the first game," said Pitt-Bradford head coach Tina Phillips. "It's time to get back to work and fix what we need to fix and start focusing on conference play. The competition we faced down here will help us this season and it was a great learning experience for the freshmen."

Amber Fox, Natalie Harding and Liz Dzurisin led the Panthers with two hits and an RBI each while Maddy Hillery drove in a run and Jill Fleming had two hits in the victory over Minnesota Morris. 

Summer Andrews picked up the win in the circle, tossing all seven innings and allowing just three runs while striking out two to improve to 1-1 on the year.

The Panther's offense got hot in the third inning when Fox laced an RBI double to the right-centerfield wall. Harding followed with an RBI single to center and Hillery ripped an RBI single to right field to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead in the top of the third. 

Pitt-Bradford added to their lead with one run in the fifth and one more in the sixth. Dzurisin scored on a throwing error in the fifth and then added an RBI single in the sixth, making it a 5-0 ballgame.

Minnesota Morris made things interesting with three runs in the top of the seventh, but it was too little, too late, as the Panthers hung on for the 5-3 victory. 

The Panthers outhit Nichols in the second game 11-8, but left 10 runners on base in the loss.

Dzurisin led the Panther's offense, going 2-4 with three RBI while Emily Fair drove in a run and Leann Bell and Grace Dadzaa picked up two hits each in the loss. 

Taylor Collins allowed just three earned runs over six innings and Cassidy Lewis tossed a scoreless seventh inning in relief in the circle. 

Nichols got on the board with two runs in the second, but the Panthers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third on Dzurisin's bases-clearing double to left-center.

The Panthers carried a 3-2 lead after four, but the Nichols' offense awoke, scoring two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take a 7-3 lead. 

Fair singled down the left field line, scoring Lewis from second, but the Panthers couldn't come all the way back, as they well 7-4 to Nichols in the first game of the day.

Pitt-Bradford finished its spring break trip with a record of 4-8 and will return to action Saturday afternoon at three for a doubleheader against St. John Fisher.