Saturday, March 19
Clearwater, Fla.
9:30:00 AM
Lehigh University
14-6
0
vs
2
Northwestern
9-13
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
2
4
0
Lehigh
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
0
Troyan earns 700th win as Lehigh tops Marist in Spring Break finale
3/19/2016 7:22:00 PM | Softball
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan earned his 700th career victory as the Mountain Hawks scored seven unanswered runs to erase an early deficit and beat Marist 7-1 in the final game of their spring break trip at the USF Spring Break Tournament. The Mountain Hawks split on the final day of their trip, dropping a 2-0 decision to Northwestern earlier in the day in a game that was delayed more than four hours due to rain.
Senior Morgan Decker led the way with a 3-for-5 showing in the two games, while classmate Alexis Watanabe and junior Vicky Lattanzio both had two RBIs in the win over the Red Foxes. Lehigh now stands at 15-6 following Saturday's split.
Troyan, in his 21st season as Lehigh's head coach, now owns a 700-363-6 career record.
The Mountain Hawks trailed Marist (12-5) 1-0 just two batters into the game as Maureen Duddy led off with a single and then scored on a Kyrsten Van Natta double.
Lehigh squandered several early opportunities, leaving five runners on base through the first four innings. In the fifth, sophomore Katie Schultz started the rally when she was hit by a pitch with one out and then stole second. Watanabe followed with a single to center to score Schultz with the tying run. After Decker was intentionally walked, senior MacKenzie Velasquez doubled home Watanabe with the go-ahead run. Two batters later, Lattanzio delivered a two-run pinch-hit single to put Lehigh up 4-1 after five innings.
The Mountain Hawks tacked on three more runs in the sixth as Schultz drew a two-out walk and then Watanabe, Decker and sophomore Cassie Lajeunesse delivered back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles to extend Lehigh's lead to 7-1.
Junior Christine Campbell shook off the slow start to retire the final seven Red Foxes and earn her eighth win of the season. Campbell allowed a run on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. The only other hit Campbell allowed after the first inning was Duddy's fifth-inning single.
Watanabe and Velasquez tallied four of Lehigh's eight hits.
Lehigh fell to 2-1 against Big Ten foes on its spring break trip following its 2-0 loss to Northwestern in Saturday's first game. The Mountain Hawks hung tough with the Wildcats, out-hitting Northwestern 6-4, but left seven runners on base.
Northwestern (9-13) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Sabrina Rabin led off with a single, stole second and eventually scored on an Andrea Filler sacrifice fly.
The Mountain Hawks threatened in the bottom of the fourth, putting two runners on with two outs when the game went into a weather delay. When play finally resumed at 3:30 p.m., sophomore Carolyn Wright walked to load the bases, but senior Jessica Calvini grounded into a force play to end the threat.
In the fifth, Lehigh got the tying run to second base when sophomore Rachel Timberman singled and moved to second on a sacrifice, but Timberman was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single by Decker.
Marissa Panko doubled Northwestern's lead with a two-out RBI triple in the top of the seventh.
Wright led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, but Lehigh could do no further damage as Amy Letourneau got the final three outs.
Letourneau struck out three and walked one in a six-hit shutout. Freshman Emily Sorem pitched well for Lehigh, allowing two runs on four hits, with three walks and four strikeouts, but falls to 7-3 with the loss.
The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Wednesday when they visit Saint Joseph's in their first midweek doubleheader of the season. First pitch for game one is set for 3 p.m. Lehigh will then open its home schedule and Patriot League play with three games against rival Lafayette next weekend.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Letourneau, Amy (4-7)
L: Sorem, Emily (7-3)
Batting:
3B: Bush, Alcy 1
RBI: Filler, Andrea 1 ; Bush, Alcy 1
SF: Filler, Andrea 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rabin, Sabrina 1 ; Strub, Fran 1
SB: Rabin, Sabrina 2
Batting:
SH: Rabago, Ashley 1
Base Running:
HBP: Velasquez, MacKenzie 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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