The inaugural season of Pitt softball was in 1998 with the program guided by its first head coach , Michelle Phalen . The program competed as an independent during its first season in NCAA Division I and then played in the Big East Conference from 1999 to 2013 . Phalen guided the program to its first winning season ( 31-27 ) and first Big East Tournament appearance in 2006 as well as its first season over .500 in Big East play ( 12-10 ) in 2008 , a year that saw Pitt upset multiple nationally ranked teams . In 2009 , Holly Aprile , and assistant coach in charge of pitchers and catchers under Phalen , took over as the head coach of the program . April began her tenure by leading the team to three consecutive winning seasons , a first for the program to that point , and led the 2011 team to a single season school record of 34 wins that included a victory over national ranked Georgia Tech . On July 1 , 2013 , Pitt moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference . In 2015 , Pitt reached the ACC Softball Tournament championship game and earned the program 's first NCAA tournament appearance on way to an appearance in the Regional Final and a program best 37-22 record . In 2017 , after a 5-0 start to the season , Pitt received the first national ranking in the program 's history . Pitt won its first ACC Coastal Division championship in 2018 . In August 2018 , former Ohio head coach Jodi Hermanek was announced as the Panthers ' new head coach following Holly Aprile 's departure to become head coach at Louisville
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Pittsburgh Panthers softball