Lehigh University Athletics
Sweeney earns Academic All-America honors
5/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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The Academic All-America teams are voted on by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The first player in Patriot League softball history to be named Player and Pitcher of the Year in the same season, Sweeney was dominant on the diamond, winning the league’s hitting and pitching triple crowns. Sweeney earned first team All-Patriot League and Pitcher of the Year honors for the third straight season, going 26-5 in the circle with a 1.71 earned run average and a league single-season record 304 strikeouts.
At the plate Sweeney came into her own in her junior season, batting .414 with 13 home runs and 49 runs batted in. Sweeney also led the league in hits, walks, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, and her 13 homers set a school single-season record.
Sweeney was eligible for Academic All-America honors after she was named to the Academic All-District II first team as a pitcher earlier this month. She has made multiple appearances on the Dean’s List and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, and is extremely active in the Lehigh community, where in 2008 she served as Co-Chair for Lehigh’s award-winning community outreach C.O.A.C.H. program.
With this honor, Sweeney becomes the third Lehigh softball player to earn Academic All-America honors, joining Karen Kascinski, who made the third team as a catcher in 1995, and Jenny Bender, who was named as the third team designated player in 2003.
Led by Sweeney, the 2008 Patriot League tournament Most Valuable Player, the Mountain Hawks captured their fourth Patriot League tournament title in the last five years and finished the season at 39-17-1 after going 1-2 at the NCAA Amherst (
