Mountain Hawks down Lafayette 4-1 to complete series sweep

Sunday, April 1

Bethlehem, Pa.

2 PM

Lehigh University

9-17, 5-1

Lafayette

4-25, 1-5

Lafayette

Lehigh

Mountain Hawks down Lafayette 4-1 to complete series sweep

4/1/2018 4:54:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

The Rivalry: Lehigh vs. Lafayette

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh softball team completed a three-game sweep of rival Lafayette with a 4-1 win over the Leopards Sunday at Leadership Park. Freshman Allyson Dibsie went 2-for-2 and sophomore Reva Alderman hit her second home run of the season as Lehigh registered 10 hits, while sophomore Parker Boyd allowed just a run on three hits to earn her second win of the weekend.

With the win Lehigh moves to 9-17 overall and 5-1 in the Patriot League after two weekends of league play.

"It was important to get this sweep," Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan said. "The whole league has gotten a lot better. Just like we saw with Colgate last week anybody can take a game from anybody at any time. We still have some of the better teams in our league on our schedule. Our next three league series are on the road and BU, Army and Bucknell have some individual pitchers who are fantastic, and they've been really strong clubs. We needed these games to solidify our position early on and we took care of business which was really nice to see."

Lehigh raced to the early lead in the home first as senior Nicole Yozzo led off with an infield single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Dibsie delivered a long double off the center field fence to put the Mountain Hawks up 1-0.

"Allyson is a great hitter and we knew we had to figure out a way to get her in the lineup," Troyan said of Dibsie. "We tried her at first base and it didn't work too well. Originally we looked at having her compete for the catching position next year, but she's doing a great job back there and we need to have her in our lineup."

The Mountain Hawks doubled their lead in the second inning as senior Carolyn Wright led off with a single. Pinch runner Jennifer Stoll stole second and senior Katie Schultz singled her home to give Lehigh a 2-0 advantage.

Boyd held Lafayette without a hit through the first three innings, but walked Paige Grover to open the fourth. A base hit and a ground out put runners on second and third. Maddie Wensel singled to right center to get the Leopards on the board, but Boyd bounced back to retire the next two batters and keep the Mountain Hawks ahead.

Lafayette (4-25, 1-5 PL) threatened again in the fifth after Boyd hit back-to-back batters, but the sophomore right hander was able to strand the tying run in scoring position with a foul out and a ground out.

(4/1/2018) Softball vs. Lafayette, 4/1/18

"Parker working her way out of trouble is something we hadn't seen earlier in the year, but it's starting to happen now," Troyan explained. "She's gaining confidence."

Dibsie led off the bottom of the fifth with a single through the left side and Alderman followed by greeting relief pitcher Alexis Randall by crushing a long two-run home run to left to put the Mountain Hawks in front 4-1.

Boyd set down six of the final seven batters she faced to wrap-up her fourth straight victory. She finished with a line of one run on three hits with a walk and six strikeouts as she improves to 7-8 on the season.

Three pitchers saw action for Lafayette, with starter Stacy Gordon taking the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in an inning-plus.

Yozzo, Dibsie and junior Brie Gerhardt each had two hits to lead Lehigh offensively.

The Mountain Hawks will play a non-league doubleheader at Fordham Wednesday, with first pitch for game one set for 3 p.m. from the Bronx, N.Y. Lehigh will visit Boston University next weekend in a rematch of the championship round of last year's Patriot League Tournament.