Bausher pitches Lehigh to Saturday sweep of Holy Cross

Saturday, April 19

12:00 PM

Lehigh University

22-15, 0

Holy Cross

9-17, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Holy Cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Lehigh	0	0	4	0	1	1	X	6	8	1

Bausher pitches Lehigh to Saturday sweep of Holy Cross

4/19/2014 7:15:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Junior Emily Bausher pitched nine scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts to lead the Lehigh softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross Saturday at Kaufman Field. Bausher threw six scoreless innings in a 6-0 win in the opener then came on in relief with three scoreless frames as the Mountain Hawks rallied to take the nightcap 4-3 in nine innings.

With the sweep, Lehigh improves to 23-15 overall and 11-3 in Patriot League play, while Holy Cross falls to 9-18 overall and 5-6 in league games.

"Holy Cross has really taken a step forward as a program," explained Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan. "We knew we were going to have tough games on our hands. Even the 6-0 first game was closer than the score indicated. We battled and Morgan came up with a big hit but Emily Bausher was really the one who came in and gave us an opportunity to win the second game."

In game one Lehigh went ahead with four runs in the bottom of the third inning. Freshman Ashley Cole led off with a walk and with two outs scored from second on a single through the left side by sophomore Jessica Calvini. Two batters later, freshman Vicky Lattanzio came up with the bases loaded and doubled to left center, bringing in three runs.

Lehigh extended its lead with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Junior Cassie Waggy singled home Calvini with two outs in the fifth, while sophomore Alexis Watanabe picked up an RBI with a sixth-inning triple that scored classmate MacKenzie Velasquez.

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Bausher struck out eight and walked none while allowing just two hits in six scoreless innings to earn the win. Senior Ashley Quigley came on to pitch a scoreless seventh inning on senior day.

Gennifer Durham took the loss allowing six runs on eight hits while walking three and striking out two. Lattanzio led Lehigh with two hits in the opener.

The Mountain Hawks went in front early in game two as Decker doubled to right with two outs and then scored on a single to right by Calvini. Bausher followed with a single to center, scoring Calvini to give Lehigh a 2-0 lead after one.

Holy Cross responded with three runs in the second to take a 3-2 lead. Emma Keough hit a one-out home run to left to put the Crusaders on the board and then Holy Cross loaded the bases with three straight singles. A two-out two-run single by Emily Krisanda gave the Crusaders their first lead of the day.

Lehigh had its opportunities in the second, third and fourth innings but could not score. In the fifth, Decker led off with a home run to right, her seventh of the year, which pulled the Mountain Hawks even at 3-3.

The Crusaders had a golden opportunity to regain the lead in the seventh as the first two batters reached against freshman Christine Campbell to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Troyan called on Bausher in relief and she promptly got Krisanda to pop out to second base. Bausher then struck out Alex Gustafson but a wild pitch allowed Gustafson to reach to load the bases. Lehigh got out of the jam as Bausher struck out Colleen Ahern and Kelliner Croushore to end the threat.

Bausher went on to strike out seven consecutive batters, fanning all three batters in the eighth and the leadoff batter in the ninth.

Velasquez led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and moved to second on an error when Watanabe reached on a fielder's choice. Decker came up looking for her fourth hit of the game but her fly ball to left was dropped by Kylee Malouf, which loaded the bases. Holy Cross pitcher Julia Barrett then hit Calvini in the knee with her first pitch, bringing Velasquez home with the winning run.

Bausher earned her second win of the day with three scoreless, hitless innings of relief. She struck out seven to improve to 9-5 on the season. Campbell allowed three runs on nine hits in six-plus innings. She struck out three and walked one.

Barrett allowed three earned runs and 11 hits in eight-plus innings for Holy Cross. She falls to 5-4 on the season.

Decker led Lehigh going 3-for-4 in game two, while Velasquez and junior Emma Capetz also recorded two hits.

The Mountain Hawks and Crusaders will wrap-up their series with a single game Sunday at Kaufman Field. Game time is set for noon with streaming audio available at Lehighsports.com.