Bethlehem, PA – The Mountain Hawks are getting ready to ship off on Tuesday for Lincoln, Nebraska, where they will make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. The Mountain Hawks earned the trip with their dominant performance in the Patriot League Tournament, where they allowed just one run in 25 innings.
Lehigh (40-15-2), the No. 7 seed, will need that kind of pitching in its region, as they draw Big 12 champion and No. 2 seed Nebraska (42-15) for their first match-up. The Cornhuskers, in addition to having the home-field advantage, feature perhaps the nation’s best pitcher in Peaches James. James comes into the game against Lehigh with a 34-7 record and an amazing 0.74 ERA, having given up just 28 earned runs in 254.1 innings pitched.
Emily Ling, Lehigh’s top starter, will try to match her zero for zero. Ling was dominant in the Patriot League tournament, allowing only a single run in 14 innings pitched, striking out 15 batters. She retired 22 straight hitters at one point.
Offensively, Lehigh will look to their offensive catalyst Shana Treon to set the table. Treon led the Patriot League in hits and triples, and was seventh with a .351 batting average. She will be trying to get on base for Mary Wieder, the MVP of the Patriot League Tournament, who comes in batting .366 and leads the team in RBIs and doubles.
Nebraska, like the Mountain Hawks, is not a team full of mashers. Nicole Trimboli leads the team with seven homers and 45 RBIs, and Sheena Lawrick and James each have four longballs as well.
Lehigh may lack for longball prowess, but the Mountain Hawks get the job done from all parts of the lineup. Six different Mountain Hawks 40 or more hits, led by Treon with 61. Nebraska has only three batters with 40+ hits, led by Anne Steffan with 70.
The Mountain Hawks will face the Cornhuskers at 1:30 ET on Thursday. Should they win, they will not play again until Friday. If they lose, they will play an elimination game on Thursday night at 9:00 against the loser of the No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 3 Florida Atlantic game.
California is the region’s top seed. No. 4 Mississippi State, No. 5 Iowa, and No. 8 Maine round out the field.
Thursday’s showdown with Nebraska can be heard live in the Lehigh Valley on 91.3, WLVR. All of Lehigh’s games will be broadcast live as well on Lehigh’s website at lehighsports.com.
