BRADFORD, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team pulled off a thrilling sweep of Westminster in its home opener Sunday at the Kessel Athletics Complex.
The Panthers (9-7) stormed to a 6-1 win in game one before capturing an eight-inning 1-0 walk-off victory on a Liz Dzurisin double in game two.
In game one, Jordan Uhing tossed all seven innings and struck out five to improve to 5-2 on the year.
Grace Dadzaa, Gabby Carpenter and Maddy Hillery had three hits apiece to lead the Panther offense.
A sacrifice fly from Madison East scoring Carpenter gave the Panthers an early 1-0 lead in the first.
Then Carpenter scored on another sacrifice fly in the third, this time off the bat of Sophia Fratercangelo.
A two-run bases-loaded single from Mackenzie Bonyak doubled the Panthers lead and sent them into the fourth ahead 4-0.
Hillery clubbed a double to deep left center that scored Carpenter in the fourth, then scored on a Westminster fielding error to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead.
An RBI single from Westminster in the sixth put the Titans on the board but Uhing shut them down with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh to hold on for the 6-1 win.
Game two saw far less offense as the two teams took a scoreless tie into extra innings.
Westminster had a golden chance to break the silence in the eighth, with the bases loaded and no outs.
But Kerrigan Hoffman induced a weak pop up to short, then a 5-2-3 double play to end the threat.
Dadzaa led off the bottom of the eighth with an infield single, then moved up to second on a Bonyak sacrifice bunt.
Hillery then popped out, leaving it up to Dzurisin to cash in the winning run.
She did just that, launching the ball to deep left center, scoring Dadzaa and finishing the win.
Hoffmann improved to 4-2 with the complete-game shutout win.
A pair of hits from Dadzaa led the Panther offense that amassed five total hits.
With the sweep, Pitt-Bradford has won four-straight games.
The Panthers will head to Elmira for a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday then open AMCC action Wednesday as Penn State-Behrend comes to the Kessel Athletics Complex.
