Friday, May 11
Kaufman Field
11:00 AM

Lehigh University

0
vs
2

No. 2 Colgate

LU routs Lafayette; will face Colgate in title round

5/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh pounded out a season-high 20 hits and freshman Tiffany Curtis tossed a one-hit shutout as the Mountain Hawks eliminated archrival Lafayette from the Patriot League tournament with a 13-0 five inning win Friday at Kaufman Field. Earlier Friday, Colgate’s Kelsey Norstrom fired a one-hitter as the No. 2 seed Raiders stunned top-seed Lehigh 2-0, a loss which set up Lehigh’s elimination game triumph over Lafayette.

 

With the win over the Leopards, Lehigh will meet Colgate on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks need to defeat the Raiders twice to claim their fourth straight tournament title, while Colgate needs just one win to eliminate the Brown and White.

 

The day’s opening game was scoreless through the first six innings, with Nordstrom allowing just a sixth inning single to senior Whitney Schenbeck. Curtis started and went the first four and a third innings, without allowing a run before giving way to sophomore Lisa Sweeney who was in control until the seventh inning.

 

Colgate loaded the bases with nobody out on a single, a sacrifice, a throwing error and a walk. Sweeney walked pinch hitter Kim Spinks on a 3-2 pitch to plate the game’s first run, and Ashley Rowe followed with a sacrifice fly. Nordstrom retired the Mountain Hawks in order in the seventh to improve to 16-7 and push Colgate (24-22) straight through to the championship round.

 

Sweeney suffered the loss and fell to 19-6, allowing one earned run on two hits, while striking out a pair of Raiders.

 

Lehigh then bounced back by taking out its frustrations on a Lafayette team that had just eliminated Army 4-3. Four different Mountain Hawks: seniors Heather Hamasaki and Mendy Martin, and juniors Kate Marvel and Taryn Hanley each ripped three hits against the Leopards.

 

The Mountain Hawks, the designated visiting team, tagged Lafayette starter Megan Averbuch (7-11) for five runs in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Alisha Gonzales started a run of four-straight RBI hits with a two-run single to right field. Schenbeck followed with a single, which chased Averbuch from the circle after just one-third of an inning. Kasey Karr, who pitched all seven innings against Army, came on, and was greeted with back-to-back singles from Martin and freshman Brooke Lewis.

 

In the third inning, Lehigh added three more runs, on RBI singles from Hanley and Hamasaki and a sacrifice fly by junior Megan Conrad.

 

With the necessary eight-run margin in hand, Lehigh tacked on five more in the fifth with RBI doubles from Marvel and sophomore Whitney Lowe, singles from senior Lauren Haney and Martin, and a RBI groundout by Schenbeck.

 

The 13 runs of support was more than enough for Curtis, who allowed just a fourth inning single to Christina Giambrone, while walking one and fanning seven to pick up her fifth shutout of the season and improve to 13-7 on the season.

 

Lehigh improves to 35-17-1 with the victory, while the Leopards’ season comes to an end at 21-25.

 

The Mountain Hawks will face Colgate in the championship round of the Patriot League tournament, needing to defeat the Raiders twice Saturday at Kaufman Field. First pitch for Saturday’s first game is scheduled for 12:00 pm, with a second game, if Lehigh wins, to follow 30 minutes after game one. All of Saturday’s action will be televised live in the Lehigh Valley on Service Electric 2 Sports, and will also be broadcast online at lehighsports.com, with streaming video powered by Yahoo! Sports.  

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