Panthers Stage Seventh-Inning Rally to Win Game Two and Split a Doubleheader with Ohio

4/11/2000

Second baseman Clare McCann scores the game-winning run.

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Panthers softball team split a doubleheader with visiting Ohio today at Frick Field. After dropping a 3-1 decision to the Bobcats in game one, the Panthers staged a seventh-inning rally to take a 5-4 win in game two.

With the score tied at four runs apiece in the bottom of the seventh, second baseman Clare McCann (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) led off the bottom half of the inning with a triple. She scored the game-winning run just two batters later as she crossed plate an error by Ohio first baseman Jennifer Schmidt.

The Bobcats got on the board early with two runs in the first. Pittsburgh evened the score with two runs of its own in the bottom of the third, and went ahead 4-2 after five innings on Tawni Yamauchi's (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) RBI triple that scored Robin Johnston (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) and McCann. Ohio answered with two runs in the top of the sixth to tie the score at 4-4 and set the stage for McCann's game-winning run.

McCann was 2-for-3 in the game with three runs scored, while Yamauchi went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI. Freshman hurler Nikki Gasti (Carmichaels, Pa./Carmichaels) picked up her sixth win of the season. She pitched a complete game and allowed four runs, four hits and three walks while striking out five.

Ohio built a 3-0 lead after four innings in game one on the strength of a Pittsburgh error in the third and an RBI double in the fourth. The Panthers rallied to pull within 3-1 on Jacki Haar's (Naples, Fla./Lely) double to left field, but they could pull no closer.

The Panthers record stands at 14-19 overall and 2-4 in the Big East. Pittsburgh returns to action Saturday, April 16 when it travels to Boston College.