Pitt fans pack Hempfield casino to watch tournament, hope for March Madness momentum

Green shirts and a few plaid kilts were on view Friday afternoon during St. Patrick’s Day at the upstairs restaurant and bar of Live Casino Pittsburgh.

But gold and blue were the preferred colors for the Pitt Panthers fans who packed the Hempfield venue to watch their team defeat Iowa State 59-41 in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament.

“I changed out of my St. Patty’s Day outfit I wore to work and put on my Pitt gear before I came,” said Maureen Ritson of Hempfield, who attended with her husband and fellow diehard Pitt fan, Rob. “That takes precedence over St. Patrick’s Day.”

“Pitt hasn’t been in the tournament for a long time, and to be able to come to a place like this and watch the game on a Friday and root on the hometown team, that’s why we’re here,” said Rob Ritson, who is a 1993 University of Pittsburgh alumnus. “This team has heart. That’s what we love about them this year.

“We’re big fans of all the sports at Pitt.”

Before noon, 100 of 180 available seats at the Sports & Social Steel City venue had been reserved, including those with the best view of the game on the casino’s 40-foot TV screen. That’s according to Douglas E. Haniford, advertising and public relations manager for the casino at the Westmoreland Mall. By halftime, vacant seats were few and far between.

Kim Stefkovich, a 1996 Pitt alumnus and Greensburg resident, enjoyed the bar’s “great vibe” while cheering on the Pitt team she’s supported since her youth in Harrison City.

“It’s a cool place,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this busy at 3 o’clock on a Friday, even though it’s St. Patty’s Day and March Madness.”

Before the game got underway, she said her greatest hope for the first-round game was for a strong showing by the Panthers.

“I just want the team as a whole to give everything they’ve got, to show they deserve to be here tonight,” she said. “They’ve had their haters over the years.”

A business teacher at her alma mater, Penn-Trafford High School, Stefkovich refrained from placing any bets on Friday’s game, but she said she might with Pitt’s advance to the second round against Xavier.

Bets also were off for Jeffery Giles of Murrysville.

“Maybe some other games, but not this one,” he said. “You never bet with your heart.”

A 1993 Pitt alumnus and season ticket holder, he said the resurgent Panthers have been a pleasure to watch.

“It’s a well-rounded team,” he said. “Hopefully, we can keep it going.

“It’s always fun to watch March Madness. Now, it’s like it was 10 years ago. It’s very exciting.”

Craig Liberatore of Hempfield came to the casino to watch the game at a table lined with friends from the Greensburg area, most of them fellow Pitt followers.

At halftime, when Pitt sat at the top of a 30-23 score, Liberatore remained confident in the bets he’d placed on a Panthers win.

“I’m a loyalist,” he said. “I love how Pitt started. Then they had six bad possessions that let (Iowa) into the game, but I still like Pitt.”

As for the venue, he said, “It’s a good environment. When you get a lot of people, you get excitement.”

Jason Bush of Latrobe, a 1988 Greater Latrobe Senior High graduate, grabbed a table for the game along with classmates who now live in North Huntingdon and Pittsburgh. They were expecting another former Latrobe resident to arrive from South Carolina.

“It’s a good meeting place for us,” he said. “We’ll spend the day together.”

Having casino games in the same space offered added diversion for the friends.

“It’s all part of the experience,” he said.