After a successful regular season, the Pitt-Bradford softball team has its sights set on a deep postseason run.

The Panthers, by virtue of their 12-4 conference record (they are 23-9 overall), earned the No. 2 seed, behind only Penn State Behrend, which finished an unbeaten 18-0 in AMCC play. They are 30-8 overall as they enter the AMCC tournament at Penn State Behrend today.

In their first game, the Panthers will face the winner of the game between No. 3 Mount Aloysius and No. 6 Hilbert.

The Panthers took a pair of games from Hilbert during the regular season and split with Mount Aloysius.

It’s been a tournament dominated by Penn State Behrend over the years, as the Lions have won eight AMCC postseason titles since 2007 (there was no tournament in 2020 due to COVID), which was the last time Pitt-Bradford won the AMCC crown.

Last season, however, it was Penn State Altoona that won the tournament title after Behrend won yet another regular season crown.

The Panthers and Lions squared off twice during the regular season, with Behrend winning both games by scores of 3-0 and 8-0 back on April 16.

Still, there’s plenty to be optimistic for the Panthers. Coach Tina Phillips’ team comes in red hot, winners of four in a row and eight of their last nine.

Phillips is in her 21st season as head coach, guiding the Panthers to an overall record of 359-365-2 in that time. That includes four AMCC championships, three NCAA Division III tournament appearances, and two ECAC tournament berths.

It starts in the circle, where the duo of sophomore Krislyn Clement and freshman Bri Heller have been very good. Clement is 10-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 81 innings pitched. She has allowed 87 hits, walked 26 and struck out 74. Heller, meanwhile, 9-4 with a 2.81 ERA in 79 2/3 innings pitched. She has allowed 82 hits, struck out 78 and walked 38.

Offensively, the Panthers are hitting .344 as a team, a mark paced by Lexi Peters, who is hitting .391 with 33 RBIS, a .415 on-base percentage and a .527 slugging percentage.

Peters is just one of many weapons in what is a tough Panther lineup, one through nine. That includes Clement (.363 average, .379 on-base, .615 slugging), Miranda Groll (.281/.379/.371), Faith McLaughlin (.371/.412/.584), Sara Stroup (.458/.559/.651), Ciera Adams (.321/.357/.385), Lilly Hamels (.348/.361/.377), Lexi Najdusak (.407/.453/.407), Meghan Kapp (.420/.432/.407) and Lizzy Hoovler (.441/.513/.471).

Behrend features a potent 1-2 punch of its own in the circle in the form of Abby Tingley and Kayla Lindberg. They lead the conference with 16 and 14 wins, respectively. Lindberg ranks second in the AMCC with 95 strikeouts and Tingley is third with 85. Tingley also leads the league with a 1.13 ERA while Lindberg’s 1.99 ERA ranks fourth.

The schedule, with teams overall and AMCC records, are as follows:

Thursday, May 9First game at 10am; subsequent games to follow 30 mins. after the conclusion of the previous game.

Game 1 — No. 3 Mount Aloysius (17-13, 11-7) vs. No. 6 Hilbert (14-16, 8-10)

Game 2 — No. 4 Penn St. Altoona (17-15, 9-7) vs. No. 5 Pitt-Greensburg (15-19, 9-9)

Game 3 — No. 2 Pitt-Bradford (23-9, 12-4) vs. Winner Game 1

Game 4 — No. 1 Penn St. Behrend (30-8, 18-0) vs. Winner Game 2

Friday, May 10First 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

Saturday, May 11First 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)

Sunday, May 12 — inclement weather dateNCAA Tournament Regional: May 16-18 (location TBA)