FORT MYERS, Fla. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team started its Florida trip splitting its first two games of the 2018 campaign.
In game two against Clark, Pitt-Bradford got all of its offense with the final swing of the day – and that would be all the Panthers would need.
With runners on first and second – and the Panthers down to their final out – Betty Fratercangelo stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh and lined a two-run single down the third base line that scored Kerrigan Hoffmann and Kennedy Cratty and gave the Panthers the walk-off win in game two, 2-1.
Game one: Kenyon 10, Pitt-Bradford 2 (Five Innings)
Kenyon got to the Panthers early with seven runs in the top of the first. Six hits and three Pitt-Bradford errors gave Kenyon the big early lead.
After Kenyon plated one more in the top of the second, the Panthers got their first offense of the season.
After Lindsay Hull reached on a fielding error and Natalie Harding singled, Kennedy Cratty lined a two-run triple into the gap in right-center field to cut Kenyon's lead to 8-2.
But Kenyon would get them back with a pair of runs in the top of the third.
Pitt-Bradford looked to extend the game in the bottom of the fifth as Maddy Hillery walked and Jenna Fellows singled with two outs.
Lindsey Hull then stepped in and gave the Kenyon pitcher a battle for the ages – working a 12-pitch at-bat and fouling off six straight.
But, she went down swinging and Kenyon held on for the five-inning win.
Samantha Hribal started in the circle for the Panthers and went three innings, giving up 12 hits, striking out two and walking none.
Of the 12 Kenyon runs scored, just three were earned by Hribal due to six fielding errors made by the Panthers.
Jordan Uhing tossed the final two innings of the game in the circle and struck out a pair.
Game two: Pitt-Bradford 2, Clark 1
A pitchers' duel, the two team combined for just eight hits in the afternoon matchup.
In the circle for the Panthers, Hoffmann went all seven innings and held Clark to just three hits while striking out as many.
Clark got its only offense of the game in the third inning.
A leadoff walk reached second on a sacrifice bunt and came into score on a double that went off the fence in left-center field.
Hoffmann and the Panthers defense settled in and held the Clark lead to just 1-0, working clean fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings while leaving four Clark runners stranded during that stretch.
Down one in the bottom of the seventh, Hoffmann helped out her own cause by leading off the inning with a single over the third baseman's head.
Kendra Colegrove moved her over on a sacrifice bunt, and Nicole Nolte then reached as she was hit by a pitch.
During Nolte's at-bat, Hoffmann advanced to third on a passed ball as the tying run.
Having done her job, Kennedy Cratty came back into the game as a pinch-runner for Nolte, and stole second base.
Later with two outs and Hoffmann at third and Kennedy Cratty at second, Betty Fratercangelo stepped in and line the second pitch she saw down the third-base line that scored the two runners easily and game Pitt-Bradford its first win of the 2018 season.
Betty Fratercangelo was the team's offensive leader during the game, knocking a pair of hits while accounting for all of the Panthers' runs with the two-RBI single.
Grace Dadzaa, Gabby Carpenter and Hoffmann had a hit apiece to make up the five Pitt-Bradford hits.
For Clark, Sami West threw all 6.2 innings in the circle and worked eight strikeouts as Hoffmann's counterpart.
Up next, the Panthers will play Rivier and Drew at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. tomorrow morning at North Collier Field 2.
