Saturday, April 20
Kaufman Field
12:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
5
vs
0
Holy Cross
Seniors shine as Lehigh takes first two from Holy Cross
4/20/2013 9:23:00 PM | Softball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Several of Lehigh's seniors played a key role as the Mountain Hawks swept a doubleheader from Holy Cross Saturday on senior day at Kaufman Field. Becca Bliss fired a two-hit shutout and Lehigh scored five sixth-inning runs to take the opener 5-0, while Liz Lucas' three-run home run gave the Mountain Hawks a come-from-behind 4-2 win in the nightcap.
“Becca was lights out in the first game and pitched outstanding,” said Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan. “A three-run home run and the game winning RBIs for Liz in game two; it couldn't happen to a better person.“We're thrilled to take two from a very strong Holy Cross team,” Troyan continued. “They're going to come back ready to go tomorrow so we're going to have to match their intensity”
With the sweep, Lehigh moves to 27-14-1 and 11-3 in the Patriot League. Holy Cross falls to 13-23 and 7-7 in league games.
Game one was a briskly played hour and 15 minute affair that saw Bliss and Holy Cross' Gennifer Durham match zeroes through the first five innings.
Lehigh threatened in the first and fourth innings but could not score, while Bliss worked around an Emma Keough leadoff double in the third to keep the Crusaders at bay.
The Mountain Hawks finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a pair of Holy Cross errors. With one out and nobody on, Keough dropped a popup off the bat of freshman Morgan Decker. Consecutive walks to Lucas and sophomore Cassie Waggy loaded the bases. Durham struck out sophomore Emma Capetz for the second out, but senior Jacqi Kennelly hit a hard line drive to left that Sarah Free could not catch and two runs scored on the two-base error. “I'm really happy that Jacqi had such a big role in winning the first game,” Troyan said of Kennelly, who was 1-for-3 in the opener with three hard hit balls. “She's a great person and a strong softball player and I was glad to see her have a great day on senior day.”
Sophomore Emily Bausher then plated two more runs with a pinch hit bloop single to center. Senior Kristen Mitchell capped the five-run outburst with a double to left that scored Bausher.
Bliss then proceeded to retire the Crusaders in order in the seventh, to close out her second consecutive two-hitter. She struck out seven and did not walk a batter as she improves to 15-6. Durham took the loss for Holy Cross, allowing five unearned runs on seven hits. She walked two and struck out five.
Holy Cross held two different one-run leads in game two but on both occasions the Mountain Hawks had a quick response.
Keough led off the third with a double to center off Bausher and scored the Crusaders' first run on a single by Free. Bausher then led off the bottom of the third with a double down the left field line, and scored on a ground out by freshman MacKenzie Velasquez.
Another leadoff double allowed the Crusaders to regain the lead in the top of the fifth, as Kelliner Croushore doubled to center, moved to third on an illegal pitch, and scored on an Abigail Lang bunt single.
In the bottom of the sixth Lehigh put runners on second and third with nobody out following singles by Velasquez and senior Rosie Roessel and an error by Lang. The Mountain Hawks failed on their first two attempts to push home the tying run before Lucas drilled her third home run of the season, a three-run blast off the flagpole in centerfield to give Lehigh a 4-2 lead.
Bausher settled down in the final two innings, working around a two-out hit batter in the sixth and getting a double play started by freshman Alexis Watanabe to erase a leadoff single in the seventh. Like Bliss, Bausher struck out seven and did not walk a batter. She allowed two runs on five hits as she improves to 11-6 on the season.
Julia Barrett took the loss for Holy Cross allowing four runs on eight hits in six innings.
Lehigh and Holy Cross will wrap up their series with a doubleheader Sunday at Kaufman Field with first pitch for game one set for noon. Live audio of the doubleheader will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com.
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