HAMBURG, N.Y. - The Pitt-Bradford softball team continued its late-season surge Tuesday, sweeping Hilbert on the road to extend its winning streak to eight games. The Panthers edged the Hawks, 3-2, in game one and held on to for a 12-9 victory in the nightcap.
Madison East hit a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the seventh inning of game one, and Sam Hribal worked around a pair of runners in the bottom half of the frame to preserve the win.
Pitt-Bradford went ahead 2-0 in the third inning on Hribal's RBI single, and she later scored on a passed ball. Hilbert responded with a run of its own in the inning and eventually tied the game at two in the sixth.
With two outs in the seventh, Hribal reached on an error and advanced to second base. East delivered with a base hit in the next at bat, scoring Hribal for the game-winning run.
Hribal yielded a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh, and a two-out error put the go-ahead run on base. The freshman pitcher regrouped, though, to induce a fly ball to left field to end the game. She allowed one run on seven hits in five total innings of work. Hribal also led the Panthers at the plate, with two hits, a RBI, and two runs scored.
Morgan Bellush pitched the fifth and sixth innings, surrendering a run on four hits.
Pitt-Bradford used a nine-run fifth inning to rally past the Hawks in game two. Pitt-Bradford trailed 4-3 entering the frame and tied the game on Sophia Fratercangelo's RBI double two batters in. The Panthers took the lead for good in the next at bat on East's two-run home run to left field, her third of the season.
Nicole Nolte and Betty Fratercangelo added RBI base hits, and East's two-run double later in the frame pushed Pitt-Bradford's lead to 12-4. Hilbert scored five runs over the next two innings, yet went 1-2-3 in the seventh.
Pitt-Bradford outhit the Hawks 18-12, led by Grace Dadzaa's four hits. She drove in a pair of runs and scored three times. East finished 3-4 with four RBIs, and four different Panthers had two hits apiece.
Liz Dzurisin earned the win, allowing eight runs, five earned, on 11 hits in 4.2 innings. Cassidy Lewis came on for the final seven outs, giving up a solo home run in the sixth.
Pitt-Bradford improves to 15-20 on the season and evens its AMCC record at 7-7 after winning just one of its first eight conference games. The Panthers host La Roche Saturday at 1 p.m.
