April 7, 2008
Bucknell's Mary Pavlovich earned her first-career Patriot League Player of the Week award on Monday, while teammate Lauren Fry was honored as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the third time this season. Army's Veronica Barth took home her second-career Patriot League Pitcher of the Week honor.
Patriot League Softball Release - 4.7.08 
Player of the Week
Mary Pavlovich, Bucknell
So., 3B/C, Johnstown, Pa.
Pavlovich hit .500 in a 5-1 week for Bucknell that included a 3-1 mark against Colgate in Patriot League play. The sophomore Bison doubled her season RBI total with seven last week and scored nine runs over six games. She hit safely in five of six games last week and in 10 of her last 12. She posted double-digit RBI in two games, including a three-RBI outing against St. Francis (Pa.). This is Pavlovich's first career Patriot League Player of the Week award.
Pitcher of the Week
Veronica Barth, Army
Sr., Granada Hills, Calif.
Barth went 3-0 last week, earning all three of Army's win in its Patriot League series versus Holy Cross. The senior hurler posted a 0.78 earned run average, allowing just two in 18 innings of work. She went the full distance in Army's 3-0 and 4-2 victories over Holy Cross, while sharing the 10-0 shutout of the Crusaders. She recorded 11 strikeouts and issued just two walks. This is Barth's second career Patriot League Pitcher of the Week nod.
Rookie of the Week
Lauren Fry, Bucknell
Fr., OF, South Plainfield, N.J.
For the second week in a row Fry was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. Fry batted .500 over six games last week as she collected 10 hits, including two doubles. The freshman outfielder posted the first four-hit game for the Bison this year with a 4-for-5 performance against Colgate in game one on Sunday. She had three multi-hit games last week and scored six runs and batted in three.
Honorable Mention
Kasey Karr, Lafayette
Jr., P/DP, Warren, Ohio
Drove in 10 runs and scored four in a 4-3 week for Lafayette...Batted .429 for the week and blasted four home runs.
Lisa Sweeney, Lehigh
Jr., P, Lumberton, N.J.
Moved to third on the League's all-time strikeouts list with 35 last week...Posted a 2-1 record and an 0.89 ERA.
Patriot League Notebook
Weekend Recap
Bucknell took 3-of-4 from Colgate, while Army went 3-1 versus Holy Cross in the second weekend of Patriot League play. Last weekend marked the first League games of the season for Colgate and Holy Cross, who were snowed out of their opening series. Rivals Lafayette and Lehigh split their series. Lafayette's win on Saturday was its first against Lehigh since 1999.
Continues To Climb
Lehigh junior Lisa Sweeney moved into a tie for third in all-time victories in Patriot League history at 59. Sweeney needs six more to move into a tie for first. She also moved to third in career strikeouts, now with 566, and needs 44 more to tie for the top spot.
Triple Crowns
Lehigh's Lisa Sweeney leads the Patriot League in all three pitching triple crown categories with a 0.96 ERA, 183 strikeouts and 14 victories. She is also in the hunt for the batting triple crown. She is first in the Patriot League in batting average (.389), tied for first in home runs (five) and is third in RBI (21).
National Ranking
In last week's NCAA rankings, Lehigh was sixth in the country in batting average. The Mountain Hawks have six players hitting over .300, including the Patriot League's leader - Lisa Sweeney (.389). As a team, Lehigh is batting .307 through 33 games.
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's first win over Holy Cross on Saturday snapped a 14-game losing streak. The Black Knights went 3-1 versus the Crusaders and dropped two to St. John's last week. Senior Melissa Garza batted .438 for the week with seven hits, including one double, one triple and one home run. Garza has hit safely in five-straight games and in seven of the team's last nine. Senior Veronica Barth went 3-0 in the League series versus Holy Cross with a 0.78 ERA and 11 strikeouts. Two of the games Barth pitched in were shutouts. She allowed just two earned runs in 18 innings of work.
Bucknell Bucknell outscored its opponents 46-22 in six games last week, posting a 5-1 record with a sweep of St. Francis (Pa.) and a 3-1 mark versus League foe Colgate. Bucknell swept a doubleheader and won three out of four in a four-game series against Colgate for the first time since 1999. Sophomore Mary Pavlovich batted .500 last week with seven RBI and has hits in 10 of the last 12 games. With 19 strikeouts last week, senior Christie Wiest moved into a tie for second on Bucknell's career strikeout list with 321 in her four-year career. She is 11 strikeouts behind Sharon Nichols, who holds the program record with 332. That mark has stood since 1991. Senior Erin Curatola has 25 RBI this year, including 11 last week. She is one away from joining the Bucknell single-season top-10 list. Bucknell is two wins shy of its total from all of last year when it went 15-33. The Bison are also two wins shy of their Patriot League total (7) from last season.
Colgate Junior Ashley Rowe extended her hitting streak to five straight games, while batting .553 last week with four RBI. Colgate dropped a single game to Binghamton on Thursday and went 1-3 in its series at Bucknell in Patriot League play. Colgate had three players hit their first collegiate home runs this past week - freshmen Brittany Hanrahan and Maddy Shufelt and junior Tiana Tyeskey. Tyeskey's home run provided the game-winning run in Colgate's eighth inning win over Bucknell on Sunday. Tyeskey hit .417 for the week with three RBI and four runs scored. Junior Kortney Hannah posted a .389 batting average with three RBI, four runs scored and a pair of doubles. Senior Whitney Scott moved into a tie for 10th place at Colgate in career RBI with 62.
Holy Cross Holy Cross went 1-3 at Army for its first League series of the season. The Crusaders snapped a nine-game losing streak with its 11-4 win over Army in the final game of the series on Sunday. Freshman Caitlin Belanger earned the win in the circle for her first victory of the year. Five different Crusaders notched three hits in the win, including Mandy Correale who batted in four runs.
Lafayette Lafayette's 7-2 victory over Lehigh on Saturday marked the first time the Leopards have defeated the Mountain Hawks since 1999, snapping a 35-game consecutive losing streak. The Leopards went on to split its series with Lehigh with a 9-7 victory on Sunday. The Leopards swept Rider on Tuesday and dropped a single game to Saint Joseph's on Wednesday. Junior Kasey Karr blasted three home runs in the Lehigh series and batted .400 for the week with seven RBI and four runs scored. Freshman pitcher Ali Henry owned a 2.28 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched against Lehigh and was the winner of Sunday's game. Senior Kristen Ruckno currently leads the team with 19 RBI and needs just one more to make it on Lafayette's all-time single-season list.
Lehigh Lehigh split its series with rival Lafayette, 2-2, over the weekend after falling to Hofstra twice on Wednesday. Junior Lisa Sweeney went 2-0 in two starts versus Lafayette and allowed just one earned run in her start against Hofstra. Sweeney totaled 35 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched last week to move to third on the Patriot League's career Ks list (566). She is now 14-2 on the year with a 0.96 ERA. In Sunday's win, Sweeney and junior Whitney Lowe each had three RBI. In Lehigh's 1-0 victory on Saturday, Lowe provided a RBI single that scored senior Megan Conrad.
