It was always going to be hard for the Pittsburgh Panthers (3-15) to top what they were able to accomplish last season. After all, they came within a walk-off home run of winning the ACC Tournament and earning an automatic birth into the NCAA Tournament.
Pitt lost several key players in pitcher Kayla Harris, catcher Giorgiana Zeremenko, infielder McKayla Taylor, and outfielder Erin Hershman. Harris and Zeremenko were all-conference performers, while Taylor and Hershman were valuable contributors at the plate and in the field. The departure of head coach Holly Aprile, now the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals, was perhaps a loss that the Panthers weren’t expected.