Fricker Sets Hits Record, Smith Tallies Five Hits Saturday Versus Lafayette

Saturday, May 2

Bethlehem, Pa.

12:00 PM

Lehigh University

25-27, 4-12

Lafayette

15-33, 6-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Lafayette	0	0	5	0	5	2	0	12	17	3
Lehigh	0	1	0	0	3	1	4	9	11	1

Fricker Sets Hits Record, Smith Tallies Five Hits Saturday Versus Lafayette

5/2/2026 6:35:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The final weekend of the regular season began with Lehigh hosting Lafayette in a doubleheader Saturday at Leadership Park in the Rivalry, presented by Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute, part of Jefferson Health. On Lehigh's Alumnae Day celebration, the Leopards spoiled the party claiming 12-9 and 5-4 victories.

Junior Gracie Smith led Lehigh at the plate with five hits and three runs scored across the two games. Sophomore Kelly Fricker had a hit in both games. Her fifth-inning opposite field home run in game two was her 80th hit of the season, setting a new Lehigh single-season record. Fricker had 79 hits last year and Carley Barjaktarovich also had 79 in 2023.

Kelly Fricker's record-breaking 80th hit of the season is a home run! 👑

📺 https://t.co/hH2RVSMCoP @espn | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/Et32b4f2Jq
— Lehigh Softball (@Lehighsoftball) May 2, 2026

Saturday's losses eliminated Lehigh from postseason contention. Previously, Lehigh had appeared in every Patriot League Tournament dating back to the league's inception in 1991.

Lafayette's win qualified the Leopards for their first Patriot League Tournament since 2012. The Leopards swept a doubleheader and won a season series from Lehigh for the first time in the Patriot League era.

First-year Lola Fasano doubled home Smith in the second inning of game one before Lafayette scored the next 10 runs behind a pair of five-run frames. Regan Dillon's RBI double gave the Leopards a 2-1 lead while a two-run error and a Maggie Klug RBI single put Lafayette up 5-1 in the middle of the third inning. Caroline Hall's grand slam capped a five-run fifth inning to put Lafayette up 10-1.

Lehigh kept game one alive with three runs in the fifth inning. Two runs scored on a Lafayette throwing error and the senior Abbey Tabaka doubled home classmate Sydney Parlett.

Lafayette scored two more runs in the sixth, but Lehigh again avoided the run-rule defeat as sophomore Helen Woloshyn scored on junior Peyton Sward's ground out.

The Mountain Hawks kept fighting, plating four runs in the seventh. Parlett doubled home two, Fasano brought home one with a ground out and Fricker singled up the middle to plate another, but Lehigh came up one batter short of brining the tying run to the plate.

Lehigh finished with 11 hits in game one, including four in the final frame. The Mountain Hawks left eight runners on base.

Lafayette recorded 17 hits off senior Chloe Hess and sophomore Madison Finnerty, with Hall, Dillon, Klug and Katie Harrington all registering three hit games.

The Leopards started fast in game two, playing three runs in the first on Dillon's RBI double and then a two-run home run by Ava Butler off of Woloshyn's glove in center field.

Missed opportunities doomed the Mountain Hawks in game two. Lehigh left four runners on base through the first four innings.

Fricker's record-setting hit was an opposite-field home run to left with two outs in the fifth, her team-leading eighth of the season.

Kyle Sweet homered off Woloshyn's glove in the sixth to give Lafayette a 5-1 lead.

The first three Mountain Hawks reached in the home sixth, with Parlett launching a three-run home run to left center to bring the Mountain Hawks within one. Lehigh immediately put the tying run on base but couldn't push it across as the Mountain Hawks ultimately stranded the bases loaded with Sophia Alvarez-Backus knocking down junior Holly Lovett's comebacker, and throwing home just in time for an inning-ending force play.

B6 | Lafayette, 5 | Lehigh, 4

Sydney Parlett 💣 to cut the lead to 1!

📺 https://t.co/hH2RVSMCoP @espn | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/FUjE0f3cEJ
— Lehigh Softball (@Lehighsoftball) May 2, 2026

Smith drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh but was stranded at first base as Parlett hit a rocket to third that was snagged by Harrington and then Alvarez-Backus struck Tabaka out looking to end the game.

Lafayette had an 8-6 advantage in hits, with Lehigh leaving nine runners on base. Smith and Parlett both had two hits to lead Lehigh.

First-year Addison Moorman went the distance in game two, allowing five runs on eight hits. She struck out six and walked two and pitched effectively outside of the two home runs.

T2 | Lafayette, 3 | Lehigh, 0

Moorman strikes out the side!🔥

📺 https://t.co/hH2RVSMCoP @espn | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/YqL4f5DNcp
— Lehigh Softball (@Lehighsoftball) May 2, 2026

As part of Alumnae Day, Lehigh honored its 1996, 2001 and 2006 Patriot League Championship teams, and formally unveiled the No. 8 jersey of recent Roger S. Penske/Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame member Jenny Bender '03 on the outfield wall.

Lehigh (25-28) and Lafayette will wrap-up their series with a single game Sunday at noon. The Mountain Hawks will wrap-up their four-member senior class prior to first pitch.