GREENSBORO, N.C. – Three members of the University of Pittsburgh softball team were named All-ACC performers as announced by league officials Thursday morning. Sophomore Erin Hershman earned All-ACC First Team honors, while senior Jenna Modic and redshirt senior Maggie Sevilla were selected to the second team as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.
(Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)
Hershman, a graduate of Mars High School, has become a centerpiece in outfield for the Panthers. She made her mark at the dish this year batting .415 in ACC play and tied for the team lead in hits during conference action with 27. The sophomore centerfielder consistently displayed her speed on the base paths as she led the Panthers with four steals in conference play and swiped 11 total bags this season. Overall Hershman compiled 52 hits in 143 at-bats including 11 doubles, seven home runs and 31 RBIs.
Modic, now a two-time all-conference selection, helped the Panthers clinch the eight-seed in this week’s ACC Softball Tournament by having an all-around solid weekend on the mound and at the plate against Boston College, much like she has all season. The Youngstown, Ohio native went 3-for-7 at the plate with four RBIs and also pitched 16 innings while allowing just five earned runs. In a must win situation on Sunday, Modic went 1-for-2 at the dish with a run scored and two batted in, and also threw a complete game allowing only two runs. This season Modic batted .361 with a team-leading seven home runs and 18 RBIs in conference play. She also tossed a total of 72.1 innings during conference play while striking out 26.
In Sevilla’s final season with the Panthers, the veteran had another outstanding year for Pitt. The infielder owns a .360 average in ACC play, good for third-best on the team. A San Diego native, she recorded 32 hits in ACC play, including a team-leading seven doubles. On Sunday May 8, in an 8-2 win over Boston College, Sevilla highlighted the Panthers offensive success as she finished the day 3-for-3. With those three at-bats broke the all-time record with 672. Currently, she sits first all-time in career at-bats (672) and second place in runs scored (145), home runs (33), RBIs (126) and hits (212).
These three student-athletes have been a crucial part of the team’s success this season. The Panthers finished with an overall record of 31-20, just three wins short of tying the team season record. Their efforts have earned the team back-to-back conference tournament berths as Pitt enters the upcoming 2016 ACC Championships as the eighth overall seed. They are set to take on the top-seeded Florida State Seminoles on Thursday, May 12th at 11 a.m. at Dail Softball Stadium, hosted by NC State in Raleigh, N.C.
Florida State’s Alex Powers and Jessica Burroughs were named Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, while the Seminoles’ Lonni Alameda was named Coach of the Year. Virginia Tech’s Lauren Duff was voted as Freshman of the Year.
PITT FALLS TO FLORIDA STATE IN OPENING ROUND OF ACC TOURNAMENT
RALEIGH, N.C. – Winning its seventh consecutive game in the ACC Championship, No. 6 Florida State (46-8) needed only six innings to advance to the next round, taking down Pitt (31-21) by a score of 8-0 on Thursday afternoon at Dail Stadium on the campus of NC State. Sydney Broderick went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and secured the victory with a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.
The top-seeded Seminoles move on to play the winner of No. 4-seed Boston College and No. 5-seed North Carolina in the ACC Semifinals on Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m.
FSU broke out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning as Broderick got the inning started with a single up the middle and back-to-back walks to Carsyn Gordon and Victoria Daddis loaded the bases. Cali Harrod gave the Noles a 1-0 lead with an RBI single through the left side, her 17th RBI of the season.
A bases-loaded walk to Klaevemann extended the lead to 2-0 and Korina Rosario entered the game to pinch-run for Daddis. Another run came in on a fielder’s choice by Ellie Cooper as the Panthers retired Rosario at the plate, but the attempt for a double play on Cooper at first went wide of the base and Harrod came around to score.
Jessica Warren made it 4-0 FSU with an RBI single to right field, extending her ACC-leading RBI total to 65.
FSU nearly added to its lead in the third inning with walks from Gordon and Rosario, as well as a double from Harrod, but the Noles were unable to bring across a run in the frame.
Florida State starting pitcher Meghan King retired 13 of the first 14 batters she faced allowing only one baserunner through the first 4.1 innings on a single from Giorgiana Zeremenko in the second inning.
Pitt threatened in the fifth inning as a double by Erin Hershman and walks to Ashlee Sills and Kaitlyn Manuel loaded the bases with one out. King battled back with a strikeout of Olivia Gray for the second out of the inning and got out of the jam on a pop out to first by Shelby Pickett to maintain the 4-0 FSU lead.
The Seminoles added a run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Gordon. Broderick hit a one-out single, stole second and came around to score on Gordon’s single up the middle.
The inning continued as Victoria East was hit by a pitch and Harrod walked to load the bases. Cooper nearly ended the game with a deep ball to right center, but it was caught at the warning track to end the inning.
Broderick closed out the game with a three-run home run to left center in the bottom of the sixth to secure the 8-0 victory. She drove in Powers and Alex Kossoff, who pinch ran for Zoe Casas, who had singled earlier in the inning.
King improved to 21-3 after the complete-game shutout. The redshirt freshman allowed just three hits and two walks and recorded three strikeouts for her sixth solo shutout of the season.
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