April 28, 2008

Bucknell garnered two of the three Patriot League Softball weekly awards after a weekend that saw the Bison clinch a spot in the Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell's Kristin Frick was named the Patriot League Player of the Week, while teammate Christie Wiest was tabbed the Patriot League Pitcher of the Week. Army earned the other weekly award with Chava Bobb taking home the Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor.

Patriot League Softball Release - 4.28.08

Player of the Week
Kristin Frick, Bucknell
Jr., SS/2B, West Chester, Pa.
Frick batted .667 and ran her hitting streak to seven games in the four-game sweep of Holy Cross which gave Bucknell a berth in the Patriot League Tournament. Frick became just the fifth player in Bucknell history to hit two home runs in a single game, doing so in game two versus the Crusaders. She ended that same game with a career-high four RBI, also coming up with a double in that contest. The junior Bison added a triple in game four of the series. For the week she had five RBI, five runs and three stolen bases. She had six-consecutive plate appearances between games two and three with hits and increased her batting average from .278 to a team-best .348.

Pitcher of the Week
Christie Wiest, Bucknell
Sr., Centre Hall, Pa.
Wiest pitched two shutouts last week as the Bison clinched a spot in the Patriot League Tournament. In a 6-0 win over Holy Cross she gave up just three hits and in the 8-0 victory she allowed just two. She fanned 11 batters last week to move to 10th on the Patriot League's all-time strikeout list now with 354 career Ks. She currently owns a scoreless streak of 14.2 innings. This is Wiest's first-career Patriot League Pitcher of the Week award and the first for a Bison softball player since 2004.

Rookie of the Week
Chava Bobb, Army
Fr., SS, Denver, Colo.
Bobb pinch hit in five games last week and came up with three hits in six at bats for a .500 average. In the Lafayette series, she hit .600 (3-for-5) with four RBI and three runs. She had one triple and one home run. The freshman from Denver, Colo. came up with a two-run homer in the third game of the Lafayette series to tie it up 2-2 in an eventual 5-2 win for Army. She also had a two-run triple in game two versus the Leopards. She scored one run in three of Army's four games against Lafayette.

Honorable Mention

Veronica Barth, Army
Sr., P, Granada Hills, Calif.
Went 3-1 last week with all three wins coming against Lafayette in League play...Owned a 2.46 ERA for the week and 1.70 ERA against the Leopards.

Lisa Sweeney, Lehigh
Jr., P/OF, Lumberton, N.J.
Hit .412 for the week with five runs scored and five RBI...Had two home runs...Won three games in the circle with a 1.40 ERA...Became the Patriot League's all-time victories leader now with 67 career wins.

Patriot League Notebook

Lehigh To Host 2008 Patriot League Tournament
By winning three-of-four games against Colgate over the weekend, Lehigh earned the right to host the 2008 Patriot League Softball Tournament as the top seed with a 14-6 mark in League play. This marks the seventh-straight year the tournament will be held on Lehigh's campus and the 10th-straight that Lehigh will serve as the top seed of the tourney. Tournament play will take place Thursday-Saturday, May 8-10.

Three Of Four Seeds Set
While Lafayette clinched a tournament berth last weekend, Lehigh and Bucknell each earned their spots this past weekend. Lafayette and Bucknell both ended the Patriot League regular-season with 13-7 League records. Lafayette will play as the No. 2 seed and Bucknell the No. 3 seed. Since Lafayette went 2-2 versus Lehigh (the top seed) and Bucknell went 1-3, the Leopards win the tiebreaker over the Bison and will play as the higher seed.

Waiting For One
The last spot in the Patriot League Tournament will be determined either Wednesday or Thursday when the Colgate-Holy Cross series is played. The last spot will go to either Army which went 8-12 in League games or Colgate which stands at 5-11 so far. If Army and Colgate end up with the same Patriot League record Colgate will earn the berth since the Raiders took three-of-four games from the Black Knights this year.

Colgate's Thursday Schedule
If Colgate wins at least one game against Holy Cross on Wednesday, play will continue against the Crusaders on Thursday as Colgate continues to seek a bid to the Patriot League Tournament. If Colgate loses both games on Wednesday to Holy Cross it will be out of the running for a tournament berth and instead the Raiders will play a doubleheader against Binghamton on Thursday.

Sweeney Becomes No. 1 Wins Leader
With three wins last week, Lehigh junior Lisa Sweeney became the Patriot League's all-time wins leader now with 67 in her career. Sweeney took over the top spot by passing former Mountain Hawk Emily Ling (2002-05). She also hit two home runs last week and needs just one more to tie for 10th on the League's all-time list.

Team Notebooks

Army Army went 3-1 against Lafayette to stay in the hunt for a Patriot League Tournament berth. The Black Knights dropped two to Delaware last Wednesday. Senior Mary Ann Kearny batted .500 in the Lafayette series with three RBI. Senior Veronica Barth went 3-1 last week and went the distance in all three victories. She posted a 1.70 ERA against Lafayette and 2.46 for the week, while striking out 24. Army batted .351 in the Lafayette series with a 2.66 ERA. Four players batted over .400 and seven had averages of .300 or higher. Ten of Army's 34 hits went for extra bases with four homers. Barth, senior Melissa Garza and freshmen Chava Bobb and Laura Baranek each blasted home runs.

Bucknell Bucknell ran its winning streak to six games with its four-game sweep of Holy Cross which gave the Bison a berth in the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2005. Bucknell's 22 wins are the fourth-most in program history, and its most since going 27-8 in 1993, while its 13 Patriot League victories are the most it has ever posted in League play. Junior Kristin Frick became the fifth player in Bucknell history, and first since 2005, to hit two home runs in one game doing so in the 9-1 victory over the Crusaders. Senior Christie Wiest pitched two shutouts over the weekend, firing a three-hitter Saturday and a two-hitter Sunday. Bucknell hit five home runs in Saturday's doubleheader and now has 21 this year, setting a program record.

Colgate Colgate went 1-3 versus Lehigh last week and are still in the hunt for the last spot in the Patriot League Tournament with a four-game series against Holy Cross scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Junior Kortney Hannah hit .500 last week against Lehigh and Siena with a pair of RBI and three runs scored, while classmate Ashley Rowe hit .417 with three RBI. Junior Tiana Tyeskey hit .385 in five games with two RBI, one double, one triple and one home run, and three runs scored. Senior LaPorscha Albert led Colgate with four RBI. Senior Whitney Scott moved into 10th place at Colgate in total bases (186), while Albert is ranked ninth (188).

Holy Cross Holy Cross started the week off with a split against Central Connecticut State in non-League play but then dropped four games to Bucknell. The Crusaders still have a Patriot League series on tap, traveling to Colgate on Wednesday and Thursday in a makeup from a rainout earlier in the season. Sophomore Amanda Audette picked up Holy Cross' lone win of the week in a 6-2 victory over Central Connecticut State, allowing four hits and no earned runs in four innings. Freshman Keeley Seniuk hit a grand slam and classmate Erin Fleming had a solo home run. Senior Jayme Elliott drove in one run with a RBI single.

Lafayette Lafayette increased its program-best single-season wins mark to 23 last week going by going 1-3 versus Army. Lafayette will play as the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The Leopards dropped a doubleheader to Wagner during the week. Sophomore Kasey Karr batted .353 with five RBI and one run scored. Two of her six hits last week were doubles and she also pitched 14 innings. Freshmen Stacey Kushner (.331) and Kerry Griffin (.328) lead Lafayette in batting average and are among six players averaging .300 or better.

Lehigh Lehigh won a single game versus Princeton on Tuesday and took 3-of-4 from Colgate to clinch a berth in the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the 10th-straight year. The Mountain Hawks will host the tournament in Bethlehem, Pa. for the seventh year in a row. Lehigh has now had eight-straight years with at least 35 victories. Junior Lisa Sweeney tossed three complete games and won all three starts last week. Sweeney set both the Patriot League and Lehigh career wins record with No. 66 versus Colgate on Saturday. Sweeney batted .412 for the week with five runs and five RBI. She delivered a game-winning two-RBI single in the bottom of seventh in Saturday game two win over Colgate. Junior Alisha Gonzales went 8-for-16 with four RBI last week, while senior Taryn Hanley had four RBI and six hits, including an inside-the-park home run.