Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh heads to Colgate looking to clinch PL regular season title
4/25/2013 9:37:00 PM | Softball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The final weekend of the Patriot League regular season has Lehigh heading to Hamilton, N.Y. for a key four game series against the Colgate Raiders. The Mountain Hawks and Raiders will play doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday at Eaton Street Field, with Lehigh needing to win just one of the four games to clinch its second straight Patriot League regular season title.
With one victory, the Mountain Hawks would win their 17th regular season crown in softball, and the Brown and White would earn the right to host the league tournament May 8-11 at Kaufman Field.
Lehigh has enjoyed the month of April thus far as the Mountain Hawks sport a 17-2 record this month. The Mountain Hawks have won eight straight games and 15 of 16 overall to improve to 31-14-1 on the season.
Last time out, Lehigh closed out its home regular season schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Columbia on Tuesday. Junior Ashley Quigley threw six innings of one-hit ball and senior Liz Lucas went 3-for-3 with three doubles and a three RBI in a 5-1 game-one win. In game two, Lehigh led a 3-0 lead get away but a two-out rally in the sixth, capped by senior Rosie Roessel's RBI single gave the Mountain Hawks a 4-3 victory.Roessel has been Lehigh's leading hitter in Patriot League play, batting .477 (21-for-44) with 13 runs scored and ten stolen bases in 16 league games. She is third overall on the Mountain Hawks in batting average behind freshmen Morgan Decker and Alexis Watanabe.
Decker is in the midst of a Patriot League Player of the Year-caliber season as she leads the league in all three triple crown categories. Lehigh's third baseman is batting .412 with eight home runs and 40 RBI. In league play, Decker is hitting .455 with six doubles, three homers and 12 RBI. Decker has enjoyed the month of April, hitting .479 with five home runs and 20 RBI this month.
Lucas' big game one on Wednesday put her within striking distance of two Lehigh and Patriot League career records. She now has 62 doubles, just two behind Julie Fernandez '12 for the school and league record, while her 160 RBI are five off the record held by Kim Miller '96.
Lehigh has also received outstanding pitching in April. Senior Becca Bliss and sophomore Emily Bausher have been going back-and-forth for the league lead in ERA. Bliss is 17-6 overall with a 1.70 and has pitched to a 1.11 ERA in ten appearances in April. She also had three two-hit shutouts last week. Bausher is 12-6 with a league-leading 1.66 ERA. She also has 138 strikeouts and is coming off a one-hit, 13 strikeout shutout against Holy Cross last Sunday.
Colgate enters the final weekend of league play at 15-25 overall, but the Raiders are 9-7 in league play. The Raiders will host the league tournament in Hamilton if they sweep this weekend's series against the Mountain Hawks. So far in league play, Colgate has split series with Army, Holy Cross and Lafayette, and won three of four from Bucknell. The Raiders were also in non-league action on Tuesday as they were swept in a home doubleheader by Binghamton.
The Raiders come in hitting just .247 as a team, but Eaton Street Field is one of the most hitter-friendly fields in the Patriot League. Alana Dyson owns the top batting average on the Raiders at .357, while freshman Mariel Schlaefer leads Colgate with seven home runs and 23 RBI to go along with a .330 average.
In the pitching circle, Colgate has three players who have all thrown more than 70 innings this season. Megan Carnase has the top ERA at 2.48 while Courtney O'Connell and Brigit Ieuter come in at 3.11. O'Connell leads the Raiders with eight wins, 110.1 innings pitched and 54 strikeouts.
Lehigh leads the all-time series 62-25 and has won the last six meetings. Last year the Mountain Hawks swept a four game series at Kaufman Field.
The last time Lehigh played in Hamilton, the Mountain Hawks rolled to the 2011 Patriot League Tournament title, outscoring Colgate 23-0 in ten innings to win their final two games. Lucas belted three home runs and drove in seven in Lehigh's 14-0, five-inning win to clinch the championship, while Bliss threw ten scoreless innings against the regular season champion Raiders.
Lehigh and Colgate will play doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday with first pitch both days set for noon at Eaton Street Field.
MHT EP 12 - Softball
Friday, March 13
2026 Lehigh Softball Season Preview
Thursday, February 05
Lehigh Sports Central: Softball
Wednesday, April 30
2025 Season Preview: Softball
Thursday, February 06
