4-3-17

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com |April 3, 201 | Volume 107| Issue 151

STUDENTS SING, DANCE FOR CHARITY IGA TO

CLOSE IN ONE WEEK James Evan Bowen-Gaddy Assistant News Editor

Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Kappa Theta teamed up to perform during Greek Sing in the Fitzgerald Field House Friday night. Thomas Yang STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Janine Faust Staff Writer

Two Pitt Greek organizations were cursed by a mummy Friday night. Four were hypnotized by a voodoo queen and another four were imprisoned for thirddegree murder.

These events all transpired onstage during the annual Greek Sing competition, where 10 teams of fraternities and sororities took turns performing 11-minute themed dance acts at the Fitzgerald Field House. Cheering spectators filled nearly every one of the 2,700 seats available in the audience.

The competition brought an end to Greek Week, a week of academic challenges, blood drives and other events meant

to encourage bonding between different Greek organizations at Pitt and raise money for charity. Pitt students got in for free, but anyone else paid $20.

The Children’s Miracle Network program of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation will receive the earnings from this event as part of the $500,000 pledge the Interfraternity Council and the National Panhellenic Conference made to the organization earlier this year. According to Chris Fagan, 2017 Greek Week Chair, the Interfraternity Council and the National Panhellenic Conference will count the money raised so far after the Pitt Dance Marathon April 8.

Members of Chi Omega, Beta Theta Pi and Kappa Alpha Psi took first place in the

event for their performance, “The Making of Greek Sing,” high kicking, somersaulting and shimmying their shoulders to songs such as “Fresh Eyes” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The competition’s five judges, three of whom took part in Greek life in college, represented various organizations around Pittsburgh including City Council, the Pittsburgh Foundation and Pitt Athletics.

Tom Baker, a judge, member of Pittsburgh City Council and brother of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, said the winning team had to show enthusiasm, creativity and organization.

“I was overwhelmed when I watched this as a spectator a couple years back,” See Greek Sing on page 3

After serving as the only grocery market on Pitt’s campus for the past nine years, The Market on Forbes IGA will soon close its doors forever.

IGA owner Ron Levick said that due to competition with other grocery stores, he will be closing the store either this Friday, April 7, or early next week. Levick is currently running a 25 percent-off sale, which he says will drop to 50 percent-off in the final two days of being open.

He will convert the storefront into a rentable shared office space over the course of the next four months.

According to Levick, the competition to attract students buying groceries is simply unbeatable. He said when he opened in 2008, he was “filling a big void” in the area since there were no other grocery markets on campus. But now, nearby convenience stores CVS and Rite Aid carry more dry goods than ever before. Beyond that, more grocery stores now exist in neighboring areas.

“When I opened, Trader Joe’s didn’t exist, Whole Foods didn’t exist, Target was not there,” Levick said. “My store was only 5,000 square feet.

You can go to Giant Eagle in the Market District and there’s 100,000 square feet. I can’t compete.”

He also said, in the age of Uber and Lyft, more students are willing to travel further distances to grocery stores. Looking toward the future, he also said services like Uber RUSH — which will deliver goods to users — will hurt local grocery shops.

“Here was the model before: if you wanted to go grocery shopping in Oakland, you took the bus to Squirrel Hill … It was basically an hour and a half experience,” Levick said. “So, I was saving people. I was convenient. But now you call an Uber and it’s outside in two minutes.”

Levick felt a mounting uncertainty about the See IGA on page 4

News

March for health online

Oakland crime map online

Ralliers honor lost trans, black lives

Rose Luder Staff Writer

Nearly two years after 28-year-old Sandra Bland died in jail, Alex Anderson from the West End held a sign with her image in front of the Pittsburgh City-County Building. He doesn’t want anyone to forget her story.

Chicago native Bland died in a Texas jail three days after she was arrested for a minor traffic infraction in 2015. The still-uncertain circumstances of her death — she was found hanged in her cell — sparked national outrage and a discussion about violence against women of color.

More than 100 people, including Anderson, gathered in solidarity with cis and trans women of color who have been victims of violence Saturday night. The LGBTQIA+ Advisory Council of Pittsburgh and SisTers PGH organized the can-

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dlelight vigil, which they called “Say Her Name” to bring attention to women of color who have been victims of violence.

“This event is about uplifting the women and girls, whether they’re transgender or cisgender, whose names go often forgotten,” said 37-yearold Shanea Leonard, a pastor at Judah Fellowship and an organizer of the rally. “It’s become too much of a regular event where [women of color] are killed, and we go on like it’s a regular thing.”

According to the Department of Justice, 40 percent of African-American women report being a victim of sexual violence by the age of 18.

For transgender women, the National Coalition for Anti-Violence Programs reported that 72 percent of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people are targeted toward transgender women, and 97 percent of those victims are people of color.

Signs from the Say Her Name rally sit unattended in downtown Pittsburgh.

See Rally on page 5 Courtesy of Mindy Bate

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Greek Sing, pg. 1 Baker remarked prior to the show. “So I’m expecting to see a lot of that tonight.”

The sisters of Delta Phi Epsilon and brothers of Sigma Chi kicked off the event with their performance “Leaving Earth,” in which they backflipped and twirled their way through songs such as “Drops of Jupiter” and “Heroes (We Could Be),” dodging asteroids and solar flares.

Junior Claire Le Gall, a psychology major and member of Delta Phi Epsilon, jumped off the stage at the end of the performance, sweaty and smiling, and said she was happy with how the performance went.

“It felt good to finally perform what we’ve been working on for so long,” she said.

Fagan said Greek Sing Overalls, the coalition of fraternity brothers and sorority sisters who oversee Greek Sing, began preparing for the event in October. Each Greek organization was assigned its partner based on a random lottery system at that time. Fraternities and sororities held auditions among their respective chapters for dancers in November. Teams be-

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gan practicing once the spring semester rolled around and they selected singers from their group a couple weeks before the competition.

“They’re college kids who’ve got a lot on their plate, so it’s awesome that they take

the time out to do this,” Fagan said.

According to Leigh Anne Tarabocchia, a senior exercise science major and member of Tri Delta, her group increased their practice time from two to four times a week to five or six after spring break. They

As part of Greek Week, 10 teams of fraternities and sororities performed in the annual Greek Sing competition. Thomas Yang staff PHOTOGRAPHER

April 3, 2017

had to work hard to master the choreography, as a majority of the members had never danced before.

“A lot of people on the team, mostly guys, had absolutely no dance experience when we started,” she said. “But in the span of two months, we’ve seen our hard work pay off. We’ve got a great routine now, and we’ve got a fantastic team bond.”

The night of the show, clad in street wear and police uniforms, the members of Tarabocchia’s team shimmied their shoulders and slid into splits through hits like “Bang Bang (Baby Shot Me Down)” and “Smooth Criminal,” the fraternity brothers leaping gracefully through the air and effortlessly lifting and swinging their dance partners around. Their performance, “Locked Away,” ended up winning third place.

Many of the spectators of the night were the brothers and sisters of the Greek chapters performing. They arrived bearing signs and T-shirts with their respective fraternity or sorority’s name or theme, eagerly chanting their chapter’s name when it came time for them to appear onstage. One, junior chemistry See Greek Sing on page 4

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IGA, pg. 1 store’s ability to succeed around January, and after seeing one of the slowest weeks for business in IGA’s history over this past spring break, he said the question to close the store became clear. The student customer base that would fill the store began to dwindle, and with the summer term approaching, even fewer students would be around the neighborhood to purchase groceries.

Levick began toying with different business opportunities in the ’90s at the Strand Building — where IGA currently stands — when he

opened a sports bar called The Attic, a music venue called Club Laga and a dance club called The Upstage.

Levick said he saw the culture of Pitt students change at the turn of millennium, however, with fewer students willing to go out and party on weeknights, so he closed the clubs in 2004. He’d converted the space into apartments and IGA by 2008.

According to Levick, the apartments in the upper floors, which he called “the anchor of the building,” will remain, but IGA’s future simply looked too grim to continue.

“The future was going to get more and more difficult and when you’re working harder and making less, it’s just not fun anymore,” he said. “It becomes work.”

Greek Sing, pg. 3 major Brett Ondich, arrived to his first Greek Sing with one purpose in mind.

“I’m mostly here to see Brennan Kolar singing like an angel,” declared Ondich, eager to see his Alpha Tau Omega brother perform onstage.

Nathan Hyre, a sophomore rehab science major and member of Beta Theta Pi, was breathless with excitement after a tense ten-minute wait to hear the winners.

“It’s — It’s, I can’t even describe it,” he said, as his teammates cheered and hugged each other behind him. “All that hard work.

It paid off.”

And what did he want to do next, now that his team had achieved victory?

“Take a nap,” he said.

First place: Chi Omega, Beta Theta Pi and Kappa Alpha Psi — The Making of Greek Sing Second place: Sigma Sigma Sigma & Delta Chi — College Third place: Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Tau Omega, and Pi Lambda Phi — Locked Away Best choreography: Chi Omega & Beta Theta Pi — The Making of Greek Sing Best costumes: Delta Phi Epsilon & Sigma Chi — Leaving Earth Fan Favorite: Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Tau Omega, and Pi Lambda Phi — Locked Away

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Rally, pg. 2 In an effort to discuss these issues and educate attendees, speakers from the community, advocacy groups and churches spoke during the rally. In between speakers, SisTers PGH member Anita Brown Levels led the group by singing, “Hell you talking about” to the tune of “Hell you Talmbout” by Janelle Monae, followed by a list of names of black women who have been victims of violence around the country. When Levels shouted a name, the audience shouted it back.

Ralliers held candles and signs that read “#translivesmatter,” while the speakers stood on a platform garnered by a rainbow flag — the symbol for gay pride. While the event was officially organized in support of cis and trans women of color, many attendees, including 31-year-old Stephanie Tsong from Bloomfield, came to support universal trans rights.

“I have quite a few friends who are trans, I wanted to show my solidarity with them. I think this is such a great platform to lift up my trans friends,” Tsong said.

For many, the rally was an intersection of national social justice movements. Speaker Jasmine Brockington, an advocate who is a trans woman of color and is HIV positive, said her intersecting identities have caused her fear in day to day life.

“My whole life I knew I was a minority within a minority within a minority. I’m scared to drive black, I’m scared to drive trans, I’m scared to drive gay,” Brockington said.

Speaker La’Tasha Mayes from New Voices Pittsburgh called the rally a fight for human rights, urging ralliers to stand behind black women, no matter their assigned birth gender or sexual orientation.

“This is about human rights for black trans women, black cis women, black girls, gay girls.

We say her name because we believe in freedom, we believe in justice,” Mayes said.

Another speaker, Vanessa Carter, reiterated the need for people to support black trans women during her speech and spoke about being a white, cisgendered ally to transgender people of color.

“Stop using black trans women for your cause,” Carter said. “We need to uplift them. We don’t need a cis white man leading for us. Instead, we need allies of all colors, and white allies, it’s your job to keep your peers accountable.”

Leonard ended the rally by voicing an impassioned mission for human rights to a crowd of raised fists.

“Not only is it our duty to fight for our freedom,” Leonard said. “It’s our duty to win.”

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Opinions

Editorial: Wagner’s run for governor online

Since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, his seat on the Supreme Court has remained vacant. After the GOP-led Congress denied former President Barack Obama’s nominee for the seat, Merrick Garland, a confirmation hearing, Obama’s time to get a Democrat onto the Court ran out. In one of his first major acts as president, Donald Trump nominated Colorado appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat. In another Republican-majority Congress, there is more hope for Gorsuch’s confirmation, but the path to the bench is not yet completely clear for him.

Gorsuch upholds law, not ideology, in court

Gorsuch confirmation would set unfair precedent

After watching the denial of Judge Merrick Garland to sit on the Supreme Court and Judge Neil Gorsuch’s subsequent vetting process, I’ve learned one thing — the power of “the bubble” is strong.

This bubble is the inability for people to see balanced news, mainly because their political views influence which news outlets they pay attention to and what comes up on their social media. Because of my liberal leanings, I’ve been mostly exposed to the Democratic side of things. I’ve heard arguments that Gorsuch favors the wealthy over vulnerable workers and that his commitment to religious beliefs prevents a fair jurisprudence.

But one thing I’ve rarely see from the liberal media is a well-argued case against Gorsuch. My leftleaning Facebook friends, liberal writers at major newspapers and even professors have merely levied the least attractive outcomes of his cases against him. A column in the New York Times argued that Democrats should oppose Gorsuch because “the process that led to his nomination was illegitimate,” in regards to the Republican filibuster of the Garland nomination.

I’m not convinced. Democrats shouldn’t oppose Gorsuch’s nomination simply because they believe the seat was rightly Garland’s. To let the politics surrounding the nomination process be the deciding factor trivializes the important matter of who will fill the vital Supreme Court seat that’s been open for more than a year already.

Instead, we should recognize that in each of those unattractive outcomes Democrats use to oppose Gorsuch, he voted in accordance with the law and not in line with any political ideology.

He applies the law exactly as it’s written, and that’s a quality we should all want in our nation’s judges.

Take the instantly viral case of Transam Trucking, Inc., v. Administrative Review Board, U.S. Department of Labor and Alphonse Maddin, better known as the “Case of the Frozen Trucker.” A trucker was fired for his decision to abandon his trailer after the brakes froze, unhitching the truck from the trailer to drive to safety. He then sued Transam for his termination, claiming that the Occupational Health and Safety Administration act protected him.

In the case, Gorsuch was the only judge to vote in favor of Transam, seemingly prioritizing the rights of the corporation over the worker — a decision many Democrats harshly criticize him for.

But it’s not Gorsuch’s job to protect the average worker, regardless of where on the bench his ideology lies.

Like the late Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch is a textualist and originalist, meaning he interprets laws

Remember that whole Hobby Lobby debacle in 2013?

Former appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch ruled in the 10th Circuit on whether the craft store Hobby Lobby had to provide birth control to employees under Obamacare provisions in 2013. The owners of Hobby Lobby argued this violated their Christian faith, and Gorsuch ruled in their favor, an opinion the Supreme Court later upheld — and an idea directly in contrast with Democrats’ pro-contraception platform.

Fast-forward to today and Gorsuch is Trump’s nominee to fill the yearlong vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Not only do Gorsuch’s views not reflect the values of the Democratic Party, but his appointment would also set a dangerous precedent for the future of Supreme Court nominations and the power of senators in that process.

Democrats in Congress — 36 to be exact, including Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey — have voiced their opposition to Gorsuch’s nomination. If five more Democrats also decide to vote no, they can filibuster his nomination. It is imperative for Democrats in the Senate to get those five no votes.

This isn’t to say Gorsuch isn’t a qualified candidate for the position. He graduated Harvard Law School in 1991, alongside former President Barack Obama, and holds degrees from Columbia and Oxford. He also clerked for two Supreme Court justices, Byron White and Anthony Kennedy, and has sat on the 10th Court of Appeals in Colorado since 2006.

But several of Gorsuch’s decisions on that court — including the Hobby Lobby decision and a 2008 ruling that absolved a school from making accommodations for an autistic student — should worry Democrats concerned about the future of landmark Supreme Court cases.

During his confirmation hearing, Gorsuch didn’t give a straight answer to the question of whether corporations should be allowed to donate to political campaigns in secrecy. He did worry, however, that forcing corporations to disclose their donations would “chill expression” from businesses, discouraging future contributions.

Statements like this suggest Gorsuch would uphold the Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 Citizens United ruling, which allowed nonprofit companies to contribute unlimited amounts of

by Christian Snyder

by Nick Eustis

To let the politics surrounding the nomination process be the deciding factor trivializes the important matter of who will fill the vital Supreme Court seat.

.”

“

[Gorsuch’s] appointment would also set a dangerous precedent for the future of Supreme Court nominations and the power of senators in that process.

See Snyder on page 7

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See Eustis on page 7

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Snyder, pg. 6 based on what the meaning of the statute would have been understood as at the time that it was written. The law in question was the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, which protects employees if they “refuse to operate a vehicle because the employee has a reasonable apprehension of serious injury.”

When a textualist and originalist like Gorsuch reads this section of STAA, they focus on the phrase “refuses.” In the Transam case, Maddin did not refuse to operate his vehicle — he unhitched the trailer and drove to refuel. Based on the text of the statute, Gorsuch believed Maddin waived his STAA protections when he decided to operate his vehicle, so he felt obligated to rule in favor of the company.

And Transam isn’t the only case Democrats have used to try to attack Gorsuch’s morals. He’s ruled in favor of a business choosing to withhold contraception from their employees in Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius and ruled against an autistic child seeking retribution from a school supposedly failing to provide adequate accommodations. In each of these cases, like Transam, Gorsuch felt an obligation to adhere strictly to the text of the statute, leading him to even apologize for having to make some of these decisions.

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But if you’re a Democrat like me, you’ll never see the names of these cases. You’ll hear that Gorsuch favors corporations, is committed to religion or that he’s not in favor of protecting workers. What you won’t hear is a key aspect of legal theory — that there are different, equally valid methods of legal interpretation.

Democrats shouldn’t deny Gorsuch the vacancy because the process leading to his nomination was illegitimate, or because his adherence to textualism sometimes has required him to make controversial decisions. Time and time again, Gorsuch has proved that his political ideology plays little part in his decision making, even in questionable cases that seem to deliver Republican victories. In these cases, the problem isn’t that Gorsuch favors the strong over the weak, the rich over the poor, or the employer over the employee — the problem is that our laws favor the advantaged over the disadvantaged.

“My job isn’t to write the law, it’s to apply the law,” said Gorsuch when asked about the Transam case in his confirmation hearing.

This may not be the answer that Democrats are looking for, but it is the truth. By confirming Gorsuch, our representatives, both Republican and Democrat, will ensure that the politics of the election cycle no longer affect our most resolute of political institutions — the Supreme Court.

Eustis, pg. 6 money to political campaigns. Overturning Citizens United is an imperative goal for Democrats as working to get money out of politics has been an integral part of their platform since that ruling.

Democrats shouldn’t support a nominee with whom they fundamentally disagree with, especially when the job is a lifetime position — that’s a clear argument based solely on political party beliefs. But what is perhaps even more important is the argument about precedent when it comes to Gorsuch.

When Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in March 2016, Republicans in the Senate invoked an idea dubbed “the Biden rule.” Derived from a statement made by the former Vice President while he was a Senator, the Biden rule postulates that a Supreme Court justice shouldn’t be appointed in the last year of a president’s term. The GOP used this rule to justify their refusal to hold a hearing for Garland.

Article 2 of the Constitution explicitly states Supreme Court nominees must be confirmed “with the advice and consent of the Senate.”

Democrats opposing Gorsuch may want

April 3, 2017

to prevent him from getting to the Supreme Court, but at least they did their duty and granted him a hearing. The GOP, on the other hand, shirked its constitutional duty by refusing to hold a Garland hearing outright.

If Gorsuch is confirmed and takes a seat on the bench of the highest court in the land, it will set a new precedent — where one party can ignore constitutional process and suffer no repercussions. Democrats need to stand united in opposition to Gorsuch to protect the integrity of the nomination process for the future.

Ultimately, this means we may be stuck with an eight-person Supreme Court for the foreseeable future. As a 4-4 split on the Supreme Court means the case is sent back to lower courts, the only effect of this vacancy will be that the most controversial cases will be decided elsewhere. Considering the Supreme Court cases that may result from Trump’s immigration policies, among others, a split court would be far preferable to Democrats than one leaning to the right.

The Gorsuch nomination is a test for Senate Democrats. How they vote today will set a course for the judicial future of America.

Hopefully, Gorsuch will be absent from that future.

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Sports

Pitt tennis drops two in North Carolina online

MERCY: PANTHERS TAKE SERIES AGAINST DUKE, 2-1 HAVE PITT TROUNCED Kait French Staff Writer

The Pitt baseball team seemed in for a long weekend after suffering a 14-0 blowout in the series opener against Duke Friday. But thanks to an extra inning comeback and an excellent performance from senior pitcher Josh Falk, the Panthers took two of three from the Blue Devils.

“I was very pleased with all aspects of the past two days,” head coach Joe Jordano said in a press release. “After taking a very tough loss, we ignored it and came back to win a hard-fought extra-inning game to even the series and came out today and played very well to take the series.

Any time you can win a series on the road is a plus.”

With the weekend tilt, the Panthers (13-12, 6-6 ACC) clawed their way back above .500 and ahead of Duke (16-15, 5-7 ACC) in Coastal Division standings.

Game one While the team eventually left Durham on a high note, the Panthers could not have gotten off to a worse start as the Duke Blue Devils trounced Pitt to the tune of 14-0 Friday.

The Panthers were unable to get anything going offensively, as the team compiled only four hits that day. The Blue Devil pitchers did a good job of scattering those knocks, as no Panther runner was able to advance past second base.

Redshirt junior pitcher Matt Pidich took the mound for the team, and fell on hard times quickly, giving up a run in the first. But Pidich subsequently settled down over the next several innings, retiring 14 straight batters between the first and the sixth.

But his smooth sailing came to an abrupt halt in the sixth. Pidich gave up a leadoff double to Duke’s Max Miller, and received no favors from his own defense in trying to pitch his way out of the jam. Pidich gave up back-to-back errors while trying to field his position, eventually giving up four runs without recording a single out. Firstyear Chris Gomez came on in relief, and quickly stopped the bleeding without giving up any more runs.

The Blue Devils could have stopped the scoring there and emerged victorious. But Duke

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BY FSU

Rebecca Sauers Staff Writer

Josh Falk pitched eight brilliant innings Sunday afternoon, helping the Panthers clinch the series over Duke. Anna Bongardino STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER didn’t let up, pouring on nine more runs in the seventh and eighth combined. No ninth inning was needed for the Blue Devils as they came away with the 14-0 shutout.

Game two The next day, the Panthers’ bats woke up and resurrected the team’s chances of a series victory.

In a 10-inning thriller, Pitt battled back from a late three-run deficit, eventually gaining the victory over the Blue Devils by a score of 9-8.

Pitt got off to a hot start in the second inning by stringing together four hits. First-year Alex Amos opened the scoring with an RBI, but red-

shirt senior Jacob Wright broke the inning open with a two-run double to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Yaya Chentouf added one more on a single before the inning ended to give the Panthers a four-run cushion.

Duke struck back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run by Kennie Taylor, but the Panther tacked on one more in the top of the third, courtesy of a sacrifice bunt by senior Manny Pazos.

The Blue Devils exploded in the bottom of the third, scoring six runs off four hits to give See Baseball on page 12

April 3, 2017

The Pitt softball team needed mercy this weekend in Florida battling against the best team in the country.

In NCAA softball, if a team is leading by eight or more runs after five innings, the game is ruled so uncompetitive that it doesn’t need to be played any longer. That’s what happened this weekend as Pitt tried to get its season back on track against No. 1 Florida State (35-1-1, 15-0 ACC).

The Panthers (17-16, 1-11 ACC) were no match for Florida, losing all three games and getting “mercied” twice during the team’s tilt in Tallahassee, Florida.

Game one The Panthers fell into an early hole Friday afternoon after the Seminoles scored three in the bottom of the first inning.

Pitt battled its way back in the top of the third.

After the Noles retired the first two batters, junior Erin Hershman reached base on an error, followed by a single by sophomore Olivia Gray.

Senior Kaitlin Manuel capitalized on the opportunity, swatting a three-run homer to left, tying the score at three apiece.

The Panthers wouldn’t score — or even get a hit — for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Florida State seemingly scored at will.

In the bottom of the fifth with a 6-3 lead, FSU scored eight, including four off of a game-ending grand slam, to invoke the mercy rule and defeat the Panthers, 14-3.

Sophomore Sarah Dawson took the circle for the Panthers to start the game Friday afternoon, but was unable to quiet the bats of the Seminoles.

She ended up allowing six runs and eight hits over four innings of work.

First-year Brittany Knight, coming on in relief of Dawson in the fifth, had a disastrous appearance. Only able to record one out, Knight gave up eight runs off of five hits and a walk before the See Softball on page 12

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PANTHER TRACK PROWLS ACROSS COUNTRY

Dominic Campbell

Staff Writer The Panthers scattered over the country this weekend, with the track and field team splitting up across three different meets in two different states.

The majority of athletes made their way to Gainesville, Florida, for the 2017 Pepsi Florida Relays. The meet took place over three days this weekend, stretching from Thursday to Saturday.

Junior Andin Fosam continued her excellent year in Florida, taking first in the hammer throw with a 61.18 meter toss. She barely missed her own school record of 61.67, which she set at last Friday’s Carnegie Mellon University Invitational.

Juniors Quadaisha Newkirk, Morgan Harvey and Laila Ismail along with senior Desiree Garland, led the women’s 4x400 A team to a secondplace finish with a time of 3:36.31. The team finished with a season best time, less than a second behind legendary track program Oregon.

In the 4x100, the Panthers women were unable to match the success of the longer relay, but still managed an excellent time of 1:37.37. The team, composed of Newkirk, Harvey, Garland and first-year Danielle Leaks, finished in 18th place.

Senior Desmond Palmer initially thought he set a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.75, but officials later ruled the race was not “wind legal,” meaning the tailwind exceeded 2.0m/s.

Despite the setback, Palmer followed up the disqualified performance with the best men’s individual result for the Panthers all weekend. In the 400m, he finished fourth with a time of 50.65.

The Panthers that did not make their way to Florida flew out to the Bay Area to take part in either the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, California, or the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, held in the city’s Cox Stadium.

At the Distance Carnival, juniors Nate Sloan and Billy Caldwell impressed in the 800m and the 1500m, respectively. Sloan, a junior from Hampton, Pennsylvania, finished fifth with a personalbest time of 1:50.03. Caldwell also finished fifth and set a record for himself as he finished with a time of 3:51.53.

The women’s best event at the Carnival was the 1500m, which saw three Panthers beating old records. Sophomore Makenzie Zeh, first-year Sam Shields and junior Anja Weiler all had best times of 4:36.05, 4:39.09 and 4:33.12, respectively.

Among those who headed to Silicon Valley

for the Stanford Invitational, senior Joslin Sellers enjoyed the most success. Sellers set a new personal best in the women’s 1500m with a time of 4:29.63.

Joining her in a successful 1500m race for the Pitt women were junior Amy Kelly — with a time of 4:32.14 — and sophomore Miranda Salvo — with a time of 4:30.25.

Sophomore Gillian Schriever finished 20th

in the grueling 10,000-meter race with a time of 34:05.13.

The Panthers will be splitting up again next week, for two different meets. Pitt will be attending both the George Mason Spring Invitational in Fairfax, Virginia, April 8, and the Hurricane Alumni Invitational April 7 and 8, in Coral Gables, Florida.

Quadaisha Newkirk ran in two relays for the Panthers this weekend at the Florida Relays in Gainesville.. Anna Bongardino STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Pitt News SuDoku 4/3/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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April 3, 2017

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Softball, pg. 10 mercy rule took effect.

Game two The second game of the series went as poorly for the Panthers as the first.

The Seminoles began the game well, scoring three in the first to give the Panthers an uphill battle for the second day in a row. Once again, Pitt managed to make the game interesting in the third by plating four runners. But FSU dominated from then on, scoring nine more runs to end Saturday’s game an inning early courtesy of the mercy rule, winning 12-4 in six innings.

Sophomore Alexis Solak started the fourth inning in a promising way with a leadoff single.

First-year Alexee Haynes, who walked, and firstyear Hannah Edwards, who reached base on a bunt single, joined her on the basepaths. With the bases full, Gray dropped a single into right to score the first run of the game.

Manuel reached on an error to give her an RBI, and juniors McKayla Taylor and Giorgiana Zeremenko each tacked on a run, with a sacrifice fly and a double, respectively. After the inning, the Panthers enjoyed their first lead of the weekend with a score of 4-3.

But, the advantage soon evaporated. The Seminoles scored nine over the next three in-

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nings to give Florida State the required eight-run lead to end it early.

Dawson started for Pitt, handling the first two innings of work for the Panthers before handing the ball to Knight. Knight had another rough outing, giving up eight runs on eight hits over two and a third before Dawson came back out to finish the game. Dawson ended the game with comparatively better numbers, giving up four runs on eight hits over two and two-thirds innings.

Game Three The Panthers finished the series in Tallahassie getting shut out Sunday, 5-0., Junior Kayla Harris pitched a complete game for the Panthers, making her return after exiting Pitt’s ACC opener March 24 versus Boston College with a minor injury. Harris had the best pitching performance of the weekend for the Panthers allowing five runs on six hits. While not eye-popping numbers by any means, Harris’ outing was still a marked improvement in comparison to the first two games of the series.

Pitt managed just three baserunners Sunday afternoon. Manuel singled in the first and Hershman doubled in the second and walked in the fifth. But the other seven Panthers in the lineup mustered nothing, and the team was shut out as the Seminoles completed the sweep.

Baseball, pg. 10 Duke a 8-5 lead. However, the team was unable to add any more offense in the game, opening the door for the Panthers.

The team started to claw its way back in the fifth with a solo blast by junior Nick Banman.

Then, in the seventh Amos came home on a throwing error from the Duke shortstop, trimming the Blue Devil lead to one. In the bottom of the ninth, first-year Nico Popa hit a single up the middle, plating junior Kaylor Kulina and knotting the score at eight apiece.

In the top of the 10th, senior PJ DeMeo came to the plate with one out and runners on the corners. He rolled a grounder over to the shortstop, but was able to leg out the infield hit, giving the Panthers a one-run advantage.

That was all the team needed, as junior Isaac Mattson retired all three batters he faced in his second inning of work to complete the comeback and give Pitt the 9-8 win.

Game three The Panthers couldn’t have asked for a better starting pitching performance from Falk, whose mastery from the mound figured heavily in Pitt’s win in the rubber match.

He began his outing perfectly, retiring the first 11 Blue Devils he faced before giving up a

April 3, 2017

two-out walk in the fourth. He promptly struck out the next Duke batter to end the inning, then continued his no-hit bid into the fifth.

While no longer chasing the rare accomplishment of giving up no hits, Falk continued to shine, holding the Blue Devils scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings. His only blemish came in the eighth, when he gave up a pinch-hit RBI double to Peter Zyla.

In the end, Falk finished the day giving up just one run on two hits, while walking three.

He helped out his own stat line, with the performance lowering his season ERA to an ultra-low 2.25 mark.

The Panthers’ offense gave Falk the run support he’s looked for all season — and then some.

After being held scoreless for four full innings, Pitt took the lead in the fifth off of a threerun bomb from Wright. The Panthers tacked on three more runs off of hits from DeMeo, Pazos and Popa, giving Pitt a 6-0 advantage.

Chentouf came on in relief to start the ninth, but struggled with his command and only managed to get one out while allowing a run. Rather than risk it, senior Sam Mersing came in to close the door. He retired two batters in a row to clinch the win — and the series — for the Panthers.

The Panthers will host rival Penn State at home this Tuesday at 6 p.m.

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The Pitt News

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Sydney Mengel

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