Saturday, April 6
Kaufman Field
12:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
6
vs
1
Lafayette
Mountain Hawks split series-opening doubleheader with Lafayette
4/6/2013 9:49:00 PM | Softball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Freshman MacKenzie Velasquez went 3-for-3 with three runs batted in as Lehigh downed rival Lafayette 6-1 in the opening game of a doubleheader Saturday at Kaufman Field. The Mountain Hawks had to settle for a split however, as Lafayette took the nightcap 2-1 in eight innings, in a game in which Lehigh left nine runners on base.
With the split, Lehigh moves to 16-13-1 overall and 4-2 in the Patriot League, while Lafayette is 8-19 overall and 2-4 in league play.
“We need people to start stepping up when the pressure's on and get people in with runners in scoring position,” explained Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan. “Until we can do that we're going to be just an average softball team.”
Sophomore Cassie Waggy also had three hits for Lehigh in game one, and her one-out double in the bottom of the third inning led to the first run of the game, as junior pinch runner Lizzy Odren came around to score on an error by Lafayette left fielder Jordan Parsons. After a single by junior Kristin Taft put runners on the corners, Velasquez singled home Waggy to put the Mountain Hawks up 2-0. A bases-loaded walk to senior Rosie Roessel brought Velasquez home to cap the three-run inning, in which Lehigh batted around.
Lafa
yette scored its only run of the opener when Brittany Paul led off the fourth with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on a two-out single by Victoria Vergona.
yette scored its only run of the opener when Brittany Paul led off the fourth with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on a two-out single by Victoria Vergona.Back-to-back two-out singles by Waggy and Taft set Lehigh up with runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth, and Velasquez followed with a double to left center, scoring both runners to give the Mountain Hawks a 5-1 advantage.
Lehigh manufactured a sixth run in the fifth when Roessel singled with one out, stole second base and then advanced to third on a fly out to center by freshman Alexis Watanabe. Kelly Lallis' throw to third base went out of play, allowing Roessel to score on the error.
Senior Becca Bliss was strong in the circle, allowing a run on five hits as she improves to 9-6 on the season. Bliss struck out three and did not walk a batter. Bryn Gornick took the loss for Lafayette allowing six runs on 12 hits.
The middle third of Lehigh's order, Waggy, Taft and Velasquez, combined to go 8-for-11 with four runs scored in game one.
Sophomore Emily Bausher struck out 11 Leopards in game two but was hurt by four walks, including three to batters leading off innings.
A leadoff walk allowed Lafayette to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning as Kristin Berger drew a free pass, moved to second on a sacrifice. Parsons then doubled to left to score Berger with the first run of game two.
“Emily is pitching good but she can pitch even better,” Troyan said. “We expect a little bit more out of our pitchers and one of our things we talk about is not walking the leadoff batter. That happened too many times today.”
Lehigh was held to just three hits in the first five innings, but took advantage of two Lafayette errors and a heads-up hustle play to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Senior Liz Lucas drew a one out walk and pinch runner Odren was safe at second on a throwing error on a fielder's choice. Velasquez hit a ground ball to second, that Berger couldn't handle cleanly and Odren raced all the way home from second to score the tying run on the error.
The Mountain Hawks put the winning run in scoring position in the seventh as junior Jess Long led off with a single and was sacrificed to second, but two consecutive ground outs to first base sent the game to extra innings tied at one.
The Leopards regained the lead in the eighth as Allison Brown led off with a single and then scored on a two-out double to center by Allison Thomas.
Lehigh had a golden opportunity to tie or win the game in the bottom of the eighth as Lucas and Waggy led off the frame with back-to-back singles. A ground out by freshman Carissa Zito moved runners to second and third with one out, but Lafayette pitcher Melissa Robinson got Velasquez to pop out to second and then retired sophomore Emma Capetz on a comebacker to end the game.
Robinson earned the win in the circle for Lafayette, allowing an unearned run on six hits in eight innings while striking out six and walking just one. Bausher falls to 6-5 after taking the loss for Lehigh.
“We just have to play better Lehigh softball tomorrow,” Troyan said. “In the second game we didn't adjust very well to their pitcher and had an inability to come up with the clutch hits when we had the opportunity.”
The Mountain Hawks and Leopards will wrap-up their series with two more games Sunday beginning at noon from Kaufman Field. First pitch for game one is set for noon, with streaming audio of both games available at Lehighsports.com.
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