March 31, 2008

Lehigh's Alex Cueva was named the Patriot League Player of the Week, while teammate Tiffany Curtis earned her second-career Patriot League Pitcher of the Week honor. Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors went to Bucknell's Lauren Fry.

Patriot League Softball Release - 3.31.08

Player of the Week
Alex Cueva, Lehigh
Fr., 3B, Santa Clarita, Calif.
Cueva batted .556 in a 6-0 week for Lehigh which included a four-game sweep of Patriot League foe Army and a doubleheader sweep of Penn. The freshman third baseman tallied 10 hits with seven RBI and five runs scored. The Golden State native homered twice in a 9-2 victory over Penn and came up with three of her four doubles on the week in a 5-1 win over Army. In that same game versus the Black Knights, she went 4-for-4 from the plate with three RBI and one run. She hit safely in five of six games with three multi-hit outings and three multi- RBI games.

Pitcher of the Week
Tiffany Curtis, Lehigh
So., Newbury Park, Calif.
Curtis went 3-0 on the week with a 2.10 ERA and limited opponents to a .113 batting average. The sophomore hurler fired her first shutout of the season and sixth of her career with a 3-0 win over Army on Saturday. She followed that up with a one-hitter in the final game of the series. Over three games she allowed just six earned runs and struck out 14 batters. Curtis improved to 9-0 in career Patriot League regular-season games. This is Curtis' second-career Patriot League Pitcher of the Week award.

Rookie of the Week
Lauren Fry, Bucknell
Fr., OF, South Plainfield, N.J.
Fry collected nine hits and seven RBI last week and scored six runs as the Bison went 2-2 versus Lafayette in the Patriot League's opening weekend and played doubleheaders against Penn State and UMBC. The freshman outfielder had three multiple-hit games and finished the week on a six-game hitting streak. She recorded three doubles and her first collegiate home run. In a 5-3 win over UMBC, she provided three RBI and scored two runs.

Honorable Mention

Christina Giambrone, Lafayette
So., SS, Blairstown, N.J.
Hit .500 on the week, going 9-for-18 from the plate over six games...Recorded seven RBI and scored five runs...Had two doubles and three home runs.

Patriot League Notebook

Opening Weekend In The Books
Last weekend marked the official start of the Patriot League portion of the 2008 season. Lehigh, the Patriot League preseason favorite, swept Army in the four-game set held in West Point, N.Y. Bucknell and Lafayette split their series in Easton, Pa., each winning two games. The Holy Cross at Colgate series was postponed due to weather conditions. The games have not been rescheduled as of yet.

Strong In League Play
Since the 2004 season, Lehigh has gone 74-4 in Patriot League regular-season games and captured three Patriot League Tournament titles over that span. The Mountain Hawks are 217-51 in Patriot League regular-season contests all-time for an 80.9 winning percentage - by far the best among the six League teams. The other teams' all-time winning percentages for League regular-season games are as follows: Colgate (55.6), Army (55.2), Bucknell (49.1), Holy Cross (37.2) and Lafayette (24.9).

ECAC Honor
Bucknell's Alison Ford was named the ECAC Player of the Week last Wednesday after being named the Patriot League Player of the Week. Ford was honored after batting .800, during a sweep of Coppin State. She had three hits and four RBI in game one, and followed it up with a two RBI hit in game two.

In The Top Five
In the first release of NCAA Division I statistical rankings last Tuesday, two Patriot League student-athletes made it into the top five. Lehigh's Lisa Sweeney was ranked fourth in strikeouts per seven innings (12.6) and Holy Cross' Jayme Elliott was ranked fourth in the toughest to strikeout category (42.0). Elliott finished the 2006 season ranked ninth in toughest to strikeout.

Another Top Five
With three victories last week, Lehigh junior Lisa Sweeney moved to fifth on the Patriot League's career wins list with 57. She needs just two more to tie for third all-time with Colgate pitchers Elena Isaac (2001-04) and Tara McGoff (1996-99).

2008 Patriot League Championship
The 2008 Patriot League Softball Championship will take place Thursday-Saturday, May 8-10 at the site of the highest seed. The top four teams in the regular-season standings will advance to the Patriot League tourney. The winner of the championship will represent the Patriot League in the NCAA Tournament as its automatic qualifier. Colgate is the defending Patriot League Champion.

Team Notebooks

Army Army dropped its series to Lehigh to open Patriot League play with four losses at home. The Black Knights also fell to Yale in doubleheader action during the week. Rookie Laura Baranek batted .333 in the series with Lehigh (3-for-9) with two runs scored, while sophomore Erin McClain batted .250 (2-for-8) with a run scored. Baranek recorded her first two doubles of the season last week. McClain ripped her first triple of the year driving in the tying run in the top of the sixth (2-2) in the third game of series against Lehigh. Two of Army's games last week were lost by just one run.

Bucknell Bucknell has opened up the Patriot League campaign with a 2-2 record for the second time in three years by splitting the series with Lafayette. The Bison also split with UMBC and dropped two to Penn State during the week. Senior Christie Wiest surpassed 300 career strikeouts last week. Wiest ranks third on Bucknell's career list and with 302 career Ks is 30 away from the top spot. Wiest notched three wins last week. Sophomore Mary Pavlovich had hits in six of eight games last week. She posted her first three-hit game of season and equaled a career high with three hits in the Patriot League opener against Lafayette. Freshman Lauren Fry posted three multiple-hit games and finished the week on a six-game hitting streak, equaling the season high by any Bison. Bucknell has eight home runs this season, just two shy of its total from 2007. The Bison hit six home runs in eight games last week.

Colgate Colgate was idle last week due to the postponement of its Patriot League opener against Holy Cross. Make-up dates have not be set yet.

Holy Cross Holy Cross fell to Boston College in a doubleheader on Wednesday. Holy Cross' Patriot League opener against Colgate was postponed due to weather. Make-up dates have not been determined yet. Senior Jayme Elliot, freshman Erin Fleming, senior Amanda Webster and sophomore Amanda Audette all scored runs for the Crusaders in game one against Boston College. Audette also posted a pair of RBIs for Holy Cross. In game two of the night, Webster and senior Caitlin Deitz both drove in runs for the Crusaders, as Holy Cross totaled six hits for the game.

Lafayette Lafayette went 3-3 on the week with a split of its Patriot League series versus Bucknell, 2-2, and a doubleheader split with Drexel. Sophomore Christina Giambrone batted .500 on the week with seven RBI and five runs scored. Giambrone doubled in consecutive at bats in the second game versus Bucknell on Saturday. She also totaled three home runs last week. Freshman Stacey Kushner doubled into centerfield to tie the final game of the series against the Bison in the seventh inning and drilled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth in her next at bat as the Leopards went on to win 6-3.

Lehigh Lehigh won all six of its games last week, taking four from Army in the opening weekend of Patriot League play and sweeping Penn in a non-League doubleheader. Freshman Alex Cueva batted .556 last week with seven RBI and five runs scored. Cueva had four doubles and two home runs and hit safely in five of six games, including three multi-hit outings. Junior Lisa Sweeney and sophomore Tiffany Curtis each went 3-0 in the circle last week. Sweeney totaled 31 strikeouts, while Curtis had 14. The Mountain Hawks hit .376 with six home runs as a team. Lehigh has gone 74-4 in Patriot League regular-season games since the start of 2004 season.