Saturday, March 22
12:00 PM
Lehigh University
9-10, 0
26
vs
1
Colgate
5-13, 0
1
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3
4
5
R
H
E
Colgate
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
Lehigh
3
5
8
10
X
26
27
0
Historic offensive outburst highlights doubleheader sweep of Colgate
3/22/2014 4:58:00 PM | Softball
Photo Gallery
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In its home and Patriot League opener the Lehigh softball team saw its offense produce 26 runs on 27 hits as the Mountain Hawks defeated Colgate 26-1 in five innings in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday at Kaufman Field. The 26 runs tied for the second most in school history and are the most for the Mountain Hawks both in a Patriot League game and in the Patriot League era (since 1991).
Lehigh did not light up the scoreboard in game two, but solid late-game execution helped the Mountain Hawks to a 5-4 win and a doubleheader sweep. With the two victories Lehigh has now won six straight games, as the Mountain Hawks evened their season record at 10-10 (2-0 Patriot League). Colgate falls to 5-14 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Sophomore Alexis Watanabe tied a school record, going 5-for-5 in game one and she was one of four Mountain Hawks to drive in three or more runs. Classmate Morgan Decker combined to go 5-for-5 in the doubleheader with a double, a home run, four runs scored and seven runs batted in.
"We just swung it really well," said Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan. "I don't even think the pitcher threw poorly at all. I just think we swung it very, very well. We'll always take that many hits if we can get them."
The Mountain Hawks also received strong pitching from its two upperclassmen hurlers and played flawless defense, committing no errors while the offense capitalized on six Raider miscues.
Colgate actually struck first in game one as a two out home run to left field by Marisa Dowling off junior Emily Bausher game the Raiders a 1-0 lead, but it was all Lehigh after that.
The Mountain Hawks loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first on two singles and a hit batsman. Junior Cassie Waggy hit a ground ball to third and sophomore MacKenzie Velasquez beat the throw home to tie the game at one. With two outs, freshman Vicky Lattanzio singled to left field scoring Watanabe and Decker to give Lehigh a 3-1 advantage.
Lehigh added five runs in the second inning to take an 8-1 lead, chasing Raider starter Brigid Ieuter in the process. Three straight doubles from Watanabe, Decker and Waggy keyed the rally while the fifth run of the frame scored on an error.
The Mountain Hawks' offensive production continued to increase in the next two innings. In the third, Lehigh scored eight runs on eight hits. Watanabe drove in two runs with a triple, while freshman Ashley Cole had two hits in the inning, including a two-run single.
In its fourth and final at-bat of game one, Lehigh put up ten runs on ten hits. At one point the Mountain Hawks had eight straight singles. The 26-run outburst was capped by Waggy, who drilled a three-run home run to left, her second of the season, with two outs in the fourth.
Lost in all the offense was Bausher, who did not allow a hit in four innings after the home run. Bausher struck out and walked two in five innings to earn the win and improve to 3-5 on the season. Ieuter allowed seven earned runs in 1.1 innings, while Gillian Murray took the brunt of the damage for Colgate as she gave up 19 runs (14 earned) on 20 hits in 2.2 innings.
The 26 runs were the most scored by Lehigh since scoring 26 versus Villanova in 1979. The then-Engineers scored 38 runs against Muhlenberg in 177. The previous high-scoring game for Lehigh in the Patriot League era was a 22-run outburst against Lafayette in 2000.
Watanabe's five hits included three singles, a double and a triple. She matches the school record set by Shana Treon versus Army on April 13, 2002.
"We expect every league game to be very competitive," Troyan said. "The first game, everything that we did went well and nothing went Colgate's way. We expected the second game to be close."
Dowling once again gave the Raiders an early 1-0 lead in game two, this time singling home Katie Bushee, who singled to lead off the game, stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice.
Lehigh picked up right where it left off in game one, answering with four runs to take a 4-1 lead after one. After a single and two Colgate errors, Decker smacked a three-run home run to left center, her third of the season, to put the Mountain Hawks in front. Sophomore Emma Capetz then tripled to right center with two outs and scored on a double to left by Lattanzio.
Colgate chipped away at Lehigh's lead while Megan Carnase kept the Mountain Hawks off the scoreboard for the next four innings. Murray had an RBI single in the second inning to pull the Raiders within 4-2, while RBI hits from Bushee and Dowling tied the game at 4-4 after four and a half innings.
Freshman Christine Campbell started in the circle for Lehigh and allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings. She was replaced by senior Ashley Quigley, who made her biggest impact of the game with a rare plate appearance. Lattanzio reached on an error to open the bottom of the sixth and Quigley followed with a successful sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Kristin Taft into scoring position. Two batters later, Velasquez singled through the left side, scoring Lattanzio with the go-ahead run. Quigley then retired the Raiders in order in the seventh to close out the doubleheader sweep for Lehigh.
"Ashley Quigley came and did a great job of closing things down," Troyan said. "She hadn't had an at-bat all year and she got a sacrifice bunt down that advanced the runner. MacKenzie came up with a clutch hit to knock in what ended up being the winning run."
Quigley picked up her third victory of the season with two scoreless, hitless innings of relief. She entered the game after Campbell issued a leadoff walk in the sixth but worked out of the jam with the help of a line drive double play.
Carnase suffered the loss for Colgate after allowing five runs (two earned) on seven hits. Velasquez finished with three of Lehigh's seven hits in the nightcap.
"We played extremely well in the first game," Troyan said. "When you manhandle a team the way we did in the first game it's hard to respect them in the second one as much as they deserve to be respected. I give Colgate coach Finley a bunch of credit for getting her team ready to play. The second game could have gone either way. Fortunately, we came up with the hit and a great defensive play by Morgan Decker when we needed it. We will definitely be ready to play tomorrow, and so will Colgate."
The Mountain Hawks and Raiders will wrap-up their three game series with a single game Sunday beginning at noon from Kaufman Field. Audio of the contest will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bausher, Emily (3-5)
L: Ieuter, Brigit (3-7)
Batting:
HR: Dowling, Marisa 1
RBI: Dowling, Marisa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dowling, Marisa 1
CS: Schlaefer, Mariel 1
HBP: Wilson, Alex 1
Batting:
2B: Watanabe, Alexis 1 ; Decker, Morgan 1 ; Waggy, Cassie 1 ; Bausher, Emily 1
3B: Watanabe, Alexis 1
HR: Waggy, Cassie 1
RBI: Velasquez, MacKenzie 2 ; Watanabe, Alexis 4 ; Decker, Morgan 4 ; Waggy, Cassie 5 ; Taft, Kristin 1 ; Lattanzio, Vicky 2 ; Zito, Carissa 1 ; Bausher, Emily 2 ; Cole, Ashley 3
SF: Decker, Morgan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Velasquez, MacKenzie 4 ; Watanabe, Alexis 4 ; Decker, Morgan 3 ; Odren, Lizzy 1 ; Waggy, Cassie 4 ; Taft, Kristin 1 ; Capetz, Emma 1 ; Lee, Kelsey 1 ; Zito, Carissa 2 ; Bausher, Emily 2 ; Cole, Ashley 3
HBP: Decker, Morgan 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
4
H
5
RBI
4
AB
5
R
4
H
4
RBI
5
AB
4
R
3
H
4
RBI
3
AB
5
R
4
H
3
RBI
2
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