Olivia Pittman's Back in the Pitching Circle

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The John A. Logan College women's softball team's pitching staff got a little deeper this week with the announced signing of former Pinckneyville High School standout Olivia Pittman.

"Olivia was a highly recruited high school pitcher last spring," said Logan assistant coach Angie Jilek.

"She chose to attend school this fall and forego softball, thinking she couldn't handle the demands of dental hygiene and the rigors of college softball. However, the absence of softball was too great for her and we are fortunate enough to have her join our program and continue her academics here at Logan."

Pittman was a River to River All-Conference performer all four years at Pinckneyville and was selected All-South and All-State three times.

Pittman fashioned a career earned run average of 0.675. She also played summer league ball with the Legion of Doom traveling team of St. Louis.

Academically, she was an Illinois State Scholar in 2008 with a 4.0 grade-point average.

Pittman comes to Logan via Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

"We are looking to Liv to complement our pitching staff and make us deeper in the rotation," Jilek said. "She is a terrific young lady, a very dedicated and coachable kid. I think she's anxious to get back into the (pitching) mix and we are happy to have her with us and see a bright future for her at Logan."

Pittman said she was happy to be on campus.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to play softball again," she said.

"I haven't picked up a ball since last summer so I'm a little concerned about the movement on my pitches. But I think I'll be OK."

Pittman said the highlight of her prep career was leading the Panthers to a fourth-place finish at the Class A State Tournament as a freshman.

"That was a big deal to me," she said.

"By the time I graduated, I was probably throwing in the low 60s. But because the distance is three feet further back at the college level (43 feet), I'm going to have to work that much harder to make sure I can be effective. I think this will be a good experience for me."

The daughter of Mike Pittman and Du Quoin native Tina Heumann, the 18-year-old said it's exciting to be playing with so many talented players, some of whom she has competed with and against in past years.

"It's a good team," she said. "It's fun thinking about it."