May 5, 2005
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - For the second-consecutive year Lehigh was crowned Patriot League Softball Tournament champion, defeating second-seeded Army, 4-1, in game seven of the 2005 tourney. After much delay due to rain, the League's tournament came to an end on Thursday at Kaufman Field on the campus of Lehigh University. The top-seeded Mountain Hawks won four straight games, after dropping a 6-1 decision to Bucknell in their first contest of the tournament, to take home the championship title.
Game seven began where it left off on Monday before the game was called due to steady rain. Army was up 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and Army catcher Jamie Gjurgevich (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic) on second. Lehigh senior pitcher Emily Ling (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout, ending what would be the last frame the Black Knights would score.
The Mountain Hawks came out ready to play in the top of the fifth, with first baseman Taryn Hanley (Bremerton, Wash./King's West Christian) starting the rally with a double to leftfield, which scored Katherine Wegert (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier Twp.). Sophomore Whitney Schenbeck (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa), who was hot the entire tournament, delivered a two-out double that scored two. Hanley struck again the very next inning singling in the Mountain Hawks' fourth and final run of the game.
For there on in the Black Knights were unable to put anything together and went down in order in the final inning.
Ling went the whole way, allowing just one run in seven innings, fanning six Black Knight batters. Hanley went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored, while Schenbeck went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
For Army sophomore Veronica Lauzon (Capistrano Beach, Calif./Serean Clemente) was 2-for-2 with a run scored. Gjurgevich provided the Black Knights' lone RBI. Veronica Barth (Granada Hills, Calif./Chaminade) was saddled with the loss for the Black Knights, falling to 9-6 on the season.
 2005 Patriot League Champions  |
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Lehigh improves to 39-8, including a perfect 18-0 mark in League play, while Army heads home 29-21 after putting up a 12-6 League record.
Ling, this year's tournament Most Valuable Player etched her name in the Patriot League career record books this season, now standing as the League's all-time leader in career wins and strikeouts. She pitched three complete games without a loss in the tournament, while striking out 20 batters to bring the Brown and White back to the NCAA Tournament.
The Mountain Hawks will hear of their NCAA Tournament destination and opponent on Sunday, March 15 between 7:30 and 8 p.m. on ESPNEWS. The NCAA Regionals will begin Friday, May 20 through Sunday, May 22 at campus sites. Last year the team faced Nebraska and Florida Atlantic in Lincoln, Neb., walking away from the national tournament without a win.
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