Friday, March 2
Durham, N.C.
11 AM
Lehigh University
vs
Kent State
Lehigh one of three defending conference champions to play in Duke Inaugural Tournament
3/1/2018 12:20:00 PM | Softball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh softball team returns to the road this weekend for its second early-season tournament as the Mountain Hawks head to Durham, N.C. to take part in the Duke Inaugural Tournament. Lehigh will play four games over three days at the Duke Softball Stadium, with a pair of 2017 NCAA Tournament teams, plus an Ivy League foe and a Duke team in its inaugural season of Division I competition.
The Mountain Hawks went 1-4 last weekend in their season-opening trip to the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla. Lehigh posted a 7-1 win over Savannah State on Feb. 23, dropped three games to power conference opponents, including nationally-ranked Minnesota and South Carolina, before being edged 6-5 by Miami (Ohio) in the final game on Sunday.
Offensively, Lehigh hit .232 with 14 runs scored over the five games in Florida. Sophomore Hannah Edwards led Lehigh with five hits, including a double and a triple, and a pair of runs batted in. Four others: seniors Carolyn Wright and Nicole Yozzo, junior Ashley Rabago and sophomore Mary-Hannah Smith each had four hits. Smith and senior Rachel Timberman joined Edwards with a team-best two RBIs over the five games last weekend.
Lehigh had a good opening weekend on the bases as the Mountain Hawks stole 11 bases in 13 attempts, led by Yozzo, who was a perfect 7-for-7. Yozzo is up to 69 stolen bases for her career, just two off of Lehigh's school record held by Tara Stine '00.
The Mountain Hawks will look to pick things up in the pitcher's circle, where their three hurlers combined to allow 37 earned runs and 40 hits plus 30 walks in 31.1 innings of work. Junior Emily Sorem picked up Lehigh's lone win with a solid seven-inning outing against Savannah State and tops the team with a 3.65 ERA. Sophomore Parker Boyd's opening weekend was highlighted by five innings of one-run relief against No. 22 Minnesota.
Lehigh will open the Duke Inaugural Tournament against defending MAC champion Kent State Friday at 11 a.m. The Golden Flashes went 1-2 in last year's Waco (Texas) Regional and are 7-4 so far this season. Kent State is coming off a 10-4 loss at Marshall on Wednesday and went 3-2 last weekend at EMU's Madeira Beach Tournament in Florida, with wins over Delaware, Nicholls and Albany and losses to Middle Tennessee State and Villanova.
Holly Speers has enjoyed a hot start to the year for Kent State batting .613 through 11 games with four home runs and 18 RBIs. Madi Huck (5-0, 0.21 ERA) owns five of Kent State's seven wins. Friday's game will mark the second meeting between Lehigh and Kent State, with the Golden Flashes claiming a 9-2 victory in Raleigh, N.C. in 2012.
Lehigh will play two games on Saturday, taking on Ivy League foe Yale at 10:30 a.m. and tournament host Duke at 3:30 p.m.
Yale went 0-4 in its opening weekend in Houston, Texas last weekend, as the Bulldogs were outscored by a combined 24-2 by Syracuse, Houston, UTSA and UNLV. The Bulldogs were picked fourth in the Ivy League after a 17-28 season that saw them go 10-10 in the Ivy in 2017. Catcher Madison Sack and third baseman Allison Skinner are returning first team All-Ivy selections. Yale started four different pitchers in its four games last weekend. The Bulldogs have won four of the previous six meetings with Lehigh, including a 4-3 decision in the last meeting in March 2012.
Duke has enjoyed a strong start to its inaugural season, with a 9-5 mark thus far. The Blue Devils were also at the Citrus Classic in Orlando last weekend, going 3-2 with wins over Morgan State, Savannah State and Harvard and dropping games to Kentucky and Minnesota.
Katherine Huey leads Duke with a .480 batting average, while Jameson Kavel and Rachel Abboud are tied for the team lead with nine RBIs. Four pitchers have shared time in the circle, with Duke owning an impressive 1.57 team ERA through 14 games.
The Mountain Hawks will close out the Duke Inaugural Tournament against perennial Summit League power North Dakota State, Sunday at 10 a.m. The Bison have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last nine seasons. Last year, North Dakota State upset eventual national champion Oklahoma in the opening game of the Norman Regional before bowing out. The Bison are 5-5 this season and will return to action for the first time since going 3-2 at a San Diego State Tournament in mid-February. NDSU took two games from Cal State Fullerton, split with San Diego State and dropped a single game to Kentucky. Last weekend's tournament at Mississippi was canceled.
Bre Beatty leads the Bison with a .394 average and 10 RBIs through 10 games, while Jacquelyn Sertic has been the top pitcher, going 4-3 with a 1.84 ERA in 45.2 innings.
This will be the first meeting between Lehigh and NDSU, the two historically dominant programs in their respective conferences.
Duke will offer live stats for all games of its Inaugural Tournament while video of Saturday's Duke game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra, which is available on WatchESPN.
Following the Duke Inaugural Tournament, Lehigh will return to Florida next weekend for 10 games over eight days, including two tournaments during spring break.
The Mountain Hawks went 1-4 last weekend in their season-opening trip to the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla. Lehigh posted a 7-1 win over Savannah State on Feb. 23, dropped three games to power conference opponents, including nationally-ranked Minnesota and South Carolina, before being edged 6-5 by Miami (Ohio) in the final game on Sunday.
Offensively, Lehigh hit .232 with 14 runs scored over the five games in Florida. Sophomore Hannah Edwards led Lehigh with five hits, including a double and a triple, and a pair of runs batted in. Four others: seniors Carolyn Wright and Nicole Yozzo, junior Ashley Rabago and sophomore Mary-Hannah Smith each had four hits. Smith and senior Rachel Timberman joined Edwards with a team-best two RBIs over the five games last weekend.
Lehigh had a good opening weekend on the bases as the Mountain Hawks stole 11 bases in 13 attempts, led by Yozzo, who was a perfect 7-for-7. Yozzo is up to 69 stolen bases for her career, just two off of Lehigh's school record held by Tara Stine '00.
The Mountain Hawks will look to pick things up in the pitcher's circle, where their three hurlers combined to allow 37 earned runs and 40 hits plus 30 walks in 31.1 innings of work. Junior Emily Sorem picked up Lehigh's lone win with a solid seven-inning outing against Savannah State and tops the team with a 3.65 ERA. Sophomore Parker Boyd's opening weekend was highlighted by five innings of one-run relief against No. 22 Minnesota.
Lehigh will open the Duke Inaugural Tournament against defending MAC champion Kent State Friday at 11 a.m. The Golden Flashes went 1-2 in last year's Waco (Texas) Regional and are 7-4 so far this season. Kent State is coming off a 10-4 loss at Marshall on Wednesday and went 3-2 last weekend at EMU's Madeira Beach Tournament in Florida, with wins over Delaware, Nicholls and Albany and losses to Middle Tennessee State and Villanova.
Holly Speers has enjoyed a hot start to the year for Kent State batting .613 through 11 games with four home runs and 18 RBIs. Madi Huck (5-0, 0.21 ERA) owns five of Kent State's seven wins. Friday's game will mark the second meeting between Lehigh and Kent State, with the Golden Flashes claiming a 9-2 victory in Raleigh, N.C. in 2012.
Lehigh will play two games on Saturday, taking on Ivy League foe Yale at 10:30 a.m. and tournament host Duke at 3:30 p.m.
Yale went 0-4 in its opening weekend in Houston, Texas last weekend, as the Bulldogs were outscored by a combined 24-2 by Syracuse, Houston, UTSA and UNLV. The Bulldogs were picked fourth in the Ivy League after a 17-28 season that saw them go 10-10 in the Ivy in 2017. Catcher Madison Sack and third baseman Allison Skinner are returning first team All-Ivy selections. Yale started four different pitchers in its four games last weekend. The Bulldogs have won four of the previous six meetings with Lehigh, including a 4-3 decision in the last meeting in March 2012.
Duke has enjoyed a strong start to its inaugural season, with a 9-5 mark thus far. The Blue Devils were also at the Citrus Classic in Orlando last weekend, going 3-2 with wins over Morgan State, Savannah State and Harvard and dropping games to Kentucky and Minnesota.
Katherine Huey leads Duke with a .480 batting average, while Jameson Kavel and Rachel Abboud are tied for the team lead with nine RBIs. Four pitchers have shared time in the circle, with Duke owning an impressive 1.57 team ERA through 14 games.
The Mountain Hawks will close out the Duke Inaugural Tournament against perennial Summit League power North Dakota State, Sunday at 10 a.m. The Bison have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last nine seasons. Last year, North Dakota State upset eventual national champion Oklahoma in the opening game of the Norman Regional before bowing out. The Bison are 5-5 this season and will return to action for the first time since going 3-2 at a San Diego State Tournament in mid-February. NDSU took two games from Cal State Fullerton, split with San Diego State and dropped a single game to Kentucky. Last weekend's tournament at Mississippi was canceled.
Bre Beatty leads the Bison with a .394 average and 10 RBIs through 10 games, while Jacquelyn Sertic has been the top pitcher, going 4-3 with a 1.84 ERA in 45.2 innings.
This will be the first meeting between Lehigh and NDSU, the two historically dominant programs in their respective conferences.
Duke will offer live stats for all games of its Inaugural Tournament while video of Saturday's Duke game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra, which is available on WatchESPN.
Following the Duke Inaugural Tournament, Lehigh will return to Florida next weekend for 10 games over eight days, including two tournaments during spring break.
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