Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh to visit Army in P.L. regular season finale
4/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Lehigh (33-11, 15-1 Patriot League) wrapped up the regular season championship and the top seed in the upcoming tournament with a four game sweep of Colgate last weekend at Kaufman Field. A re-occurring theme this season, a pair of Mountain Hawks earned Patriot League weekly accolades for their play last week. Junior Julie Sterrett was named the league’s Player of the Week, after hitting .529 with two home runs and seven RBI last week. Freshman Lisa Sweeney earned her fifth Pitcher of the Week award of the season after setting a new Patriot League single season wins record and a new school record for strikeouts in a season.
Sweeney has been dominant in her first season at Lehigh, with a 22-3 record and a 0.86 earned run average. She leads the Patriot League in wins, strikeouts, ERA, shutouts and opponents batting average. In last week’s NCAA statistics, Sweeney ranked 11th nationally in wins and 16th in ERA.
Offensively, senior catcher Mary Wieder is hitting a career best .362 with a school record tying seven home runs, and a league leading 33 RBI. Sterrett leads the Patriot League in hitting with a .397 average, but sophomore centerfielder Kate Marvel is not far behind with a .394 mark. Marvel is also second to Sterrett with 50 base hits and ranks second in the nation with 0.19 triples per game.
In the pitchers circle, Sweeney has teamed with Kate Arico to form a dominant 1-2 punch. Sweeney leads the league in ERA with Arico second with a 1.68 average. In league games however, Arico leads the way with 0.41 ERA, with Sweeney close behind.
The Mountain Hawks and Black Knights (16-31, 9-7 Patriot League) rank 1-2 in the league in both hitting and pitching in Patriot League play, with Army holding an advantage at the plate, and Lehigh leading in team pitching. Army’s dangerous offense is led by senior outfielder Nikki Posey, who is third in the league overall, hitting .385 with two home runs and 16 RBI. Darcy Wilson and Veronica Lauzon provide pop in the middle of the Army batting order.
Army’s top pitcher is sophomore Veronica Barth, while Kelly Trout and Chris Stauffer will also see innings in the pitchers circle.
Lehigh has won the last eight head-to-head meetings, including two last year in the Patriot League Tournament. Prior to this season, Army was the last team to defeat Lehigh in a Patriot League regular season game, sweeping a doubleheader from the Mountain Hawks in 2004.
This weekend’s four game series will begin with a doubleheader Friday at 5:30 pm from the Army Softball Complex at
