April 3, 2006

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh opened up Patriot League play with a four-game weekend sweep over rival Lafayette. On Monday, junior Julie Sterrett and freshman Lisa Sweeney where honored by the league for their efforts on the diamond; Sterrett as the league's Player of the Week and Sweeney as Pitcher of the Week. Both played an integral role in the Mountain Hawks' four victories last week, as the Brown and White extended their Patriot League regular season winning streak to 38 games.

In six games last week, Sterrett hit a blistering .556 with a pair of home runs and nine runs batted in. Lehigh's junior right fielder was especially tough on the Leopards, going 7-for-12 at the plate. Sterrett hit both her home runs, and drove in all nine runs versus Lafayette. She saved her best for the final game of the series, going 2-for-2 with a two-run double and a three-run home run in a 14-2 Mountain Hawk romp. This is Sterrett's first Player of the Week award of the season, but she did earn the same honor once in 2005.

Sterrett's week at the plate bumped her up to second in the Patriot League in hitting with a .400 average. The Coopersburg, Pa. native is also tied for the league lead with 32 hits and is tied for third in the league with 19 RBI.

Sweeney earned Pitcher of the Week honors for the second week in a row, and the third time this season, after winning both of her starts last week. The freshman right hander allowed just one earned run in 13.2 innings of work, and yielded ten hits while striking out 13. Sweeney tossed six and two-thirds innings of shutout ball to win the series opener against Lafayette and then earned a win in game three of the series with the Leopards.

The Lumberton, N.J. native is now 12-3 on the season, with a league best 0.93 earned run average. Sweeney is the only Patriot League hurler with an ERA under 2.00.

The Mountain Hawks (19-8 overall, 4-0 Patriot League) will return to action on Wednesday when they will host defending Ivy League champion Princeton in a doubleheader, getting underway at 3:00 pm from Kaufman Field. The games will be broadcast online at lehighsports.com with streaming audio powered by Yahoo! Sports.