Lehigh University Athletics
Sweeney, Lehigh ease way to crown
5/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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of The Morning Call
Compared to past years full of riveting rallies and suspenseful endings, this year's championship round of the Patriot League Softball Tournament seemed somewhat boring.
But no one connected to the Lehigh softball team was complaining.
The Mountain Hawks broke open the title game with three second-inning runs and rolled past Army 5-1 Saturday to win their third straight league title and eighth overall.
There was also little drama when it came time to announce the tournament's most valuable player.
Even the people who vote for the ''American Idol'' contestants couldn't mess this up.
Lisa Sweeney, Lehigh's remarkable freshman, won the award to cap two days of dominance at Kaufman Field.
After pitching 82/3 perfect innings and collecting a win and a save in Friday's two victories, Sweeney retired the first 16 hitters she faced on Saturday.
Nikki Posey's single to right with one out in the sixth halted Sweeney's streak of perfection at 42 batters. The Black Knights then bunched three hits to end her scoreless streak in the seventh.
But, fittingly, Sweeney punctuated her first postseason performance with two strikeouts to strand runners at the corners and send Lehigh back to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive spring.
The Mountain Hawks (41-12) will find out today at 3:30 p.m. where they are headed for next weekend's regionals when ESPNews unveils the brackets.
Lehigh has gone 0-2 in the NCAAs the past two years, but Sweeney just might be able to get the Mountain Hawks' first national tournament win since 2001.
The right-hander from
''We have absolutely no idea where we're going, but we'd like to think that we've played in enough close games and have the pitching that can allow us stay in the game no matter who we're playing,'' Lehigh coach Fran Troyan said. ''I know the
Over the years, Troyan's teams have had bumpy rides through to the league tournament finals, often needing to charge through the back door after early-round losses.
This time, Sweeney kept the Mountain Hawks in the driver's seat throughout the weekend. She and Kate Arico combined for 20 scoreless tourney innings before Army finally broke through.
''Lisa wasn't as dominating today as she was [Friday], which is to be expected when you see the same team over so many innings,'' Troyan said of Sweeney, who struck out just four after fanning 10 Army hitters on Friday.
''It was more of a complete team effort today with some outstanding defense and timely hitting to go with her pitching. As a staff, we're very pleased because it's clear that we peaked at the right time.''
Just as pleasing was the fact that the bottom of the order ignited the offense.
Sweeney led off the second inning with a single and moved up on Taryn Hanley's sacrifice bunt before No. 8 and No. 9 hitters Megan Conrad and Whitney Schenbeck ripped back-to-back RBI triples.
Conrad, a sophomore from Kutztown High, also beat out a bunt single and scored in the fourth.
''Megan stepped up for us all day,'' Troyan said. ''That triple in the first inning really took the pressure off, considering the way Lisa was pitching. It allowed everybody to just go up there and relax.''
Heather Hamasaki, who made some stellar plays at third base, completed the early three-run uprising with a two-out, RBI single.
Lehigh, which tied its own league record for wins in a season, tacked on an extra run in the seventh when Mary Wieder, an Emmaus grad playing for the final time on the local stage, reached on a two-base error and Southern Lehigh product Julie Sterrett followed with an RBI double.
''We play the whole season for this tournament and the chance to go on to the NCAAs,'' Wieder said. ''We lost in this tournament in my freshman year and that was horrible. I never wanted to feel that way again and I hope the underclassmen never have that feeling. This is the feeling you want to have.''
By the later innings, the only thing undecided was whether Sweeney would get another perfect game. The crowd may have been disappointed when her bid ended, but the hurler just smiled.
''I wasn't disappointed at all,'' she said after improving to 26-4. ''You don't play for those things. I'm just happy that we played really well and we won the championship. You play for your teammates and I wanted this for them.''
Chances are the memories and milestones have only just begun for Sweeney.
''It already seems like she has been here for years,'' Wieder, her catcher, said. ''She has great composure. She's going to have a great career.''
This story originally appeared in the Sunday, May 14, 2006 edition of The Morning Call. Used with permission.
Photos (c) 2006, Chris Christian/Lehigh Athletics.
