BRADFORD, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team will compete as the No. 3 seed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament this weekend at Penn State-Behrend.
The double-elimination tournament will start Friday and continue into Saturday with the champion crowned Sunday.
Pitt-Bradford will start the tournament taking on No. 6 seeded Penn State-Altoona at 9 a.m. Friday.
The Panthers earned the No. 3 seed after finishing the season with a 10-8 record in conference play, tying with No. 4 Franciscan but taking the higher seed due to tiebreaker rules.
Top-seeded Penn State-Behrend earned hosting rights after finishing 16-2 in conference play, one game ahead of No. 2 Mount Aloysius.
D'Youville is also in as the No. 5 seed.
The winner of the Friday morning's matchup between the Panthers and Lions will face Mount Aloysius later in the day. The losing team will play to stay alive Saturday morning.
Pitt-Bradford put together one of its most successful seasons in recent time, led by Maddy Hillery's .402 batting average and .460 mark in conference play -- which is the fourth-best AMCC average in the conference.
Liz Dzurisin contributed 23 RBIs to go along with Hillery's team-leading 27 RBIs.
Atop the Panthers' batting order, Gabby Carpenter hit .365 this season, scored 30 runs and tied for the conference lead hitting all four of her triples in AMCC action.
Pitt-Bradford's offense backed a strong pitching staff this season, which featured one of the top arms in the conference in Jordan Uhing.
Uhing recorded the second-most wins in the AMCC, going 13-6 with the AMCC's sixth-best ERA at 2.57 and fifth-most strikeouts with 76.
Joining Uhing on the Panther pitching staff is Kerrigan Hoffmann, who went 7-6 in 17 appearances and 81.1 innings pitched, and Melanie Davis, who appeared in 11 games and threw 46.1 innings while earning a 3.78 ERA.
Penn State-Altoona went 8-10 in AMCC action this season. Abby Showers leads the team with a .388 batting average. Olivia Miller and Haley Giedroc both hit .345 and hit a pair of homers. Miller knocked in 21 runs while Giedroc drove in 20.
In the circle, Sidney Lewis led the team with a 10-4 record and 53 strikeouts while earning a 2.94 ERA in 90.1 innings pitched.
The winner of the weekend's tournament earns the AMCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament Regional from May 10-12.
Full AMCC Championship Tournament Schedule:
May 3-5, 2019 at Penn St. Behrend
Friday, May 3
First game at 9am; subsequent games to follow 30 mins. after the conclusion of the previous game.
Game 1 - #3 Pitt-Bradford vs. #6 Penn St. Altoona
Game 2 - #4 Franciscan vs. #5 D'Youville
Game 3 - #2 Mount Aloysius vs. Winner Game 1
Game 4 - #1 Penn St. Behrend vs. Winner Game 2
Saturday, May 4
First game at 9am; subsequent games to follow 30 mins. after the conclusion of the previous game.
Game 5 - Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 6 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 7 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Game 8 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6
Game 9 – Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8
Sunday, May 5
First game at 10am; Game 11 to follow 30 mins. after the conclusion of Game 10 if needed.
Game 10 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9
Game 11 - Same as Game 10 (if first loss for loser of Game 10)