May 14, 2009

Center Valley, Pa.--Lehigh will seek to recapture its magic from 2006. On Friday, the Mountain Hawks will attempt to knock off national power Texas A&M, a team that Lehigh beat twice in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The Mountain Hawks are also paired with top-seeded Florida and Florida A&M, two teams they have never met.

Patriot League Weekly Release 5.14.09

After capturing its fifth Patriot League Tournament title in the last six years, Lehigh learned its NCAA tournament fate on Sunday night. The Mountain Hawks are headed to Gainesville, Florida and will open regional play on Friday against a familiar foe in Texas A&M, a team Lehigh defeated twice in the 2006 NCAA Amherst Regional. Rounding out the four-team regional are the host and No. 1 national seed overall Florida as well as Florida A&M.

The Mountain Hawks earned the Patriot League's automatic bid into the field of 64 after winning their tenth league tournament championship. Lehigh (36-16-1) scored nine runs in the top of the eighth inning to defeat rival Lafayette 9-0 on Saturday, clinching the program's sixth NCAA tournament berth.

Texas A&M (31-19) one of seven Big XII teams in the tournament reached the championship round of the Women's College World Series last season, losing to Arizona State. The Mountain Hawks and Aggies were paired up in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2006 and Lehigh stunned the softball world by defeating Texas A&M twice and knocking the then-No. 13 national seed out of the tournament. Four seniors on this year's squad were part of the Lehigh team that defeated the Aggies. Lehigh has never faced Florida or Florida A&M in softball.

The NCAA Regional field consists of 64 teams, divided into 16 four team regionals, with the regional winners advancing to play a best-of -three super regional against another region winner. The eight super regional winners will advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The winner of the Gainesville regional will face the winner of the Tallahassee regional in the super regionals. No. 16 seed Florida State is the top seed in that regional.

Patriot League Notebook

Patriot League In The NCAAs The Patriot League has gone 5-20 in the NCAA Tournament all-time in 10 previous appearances. Lehigh has captured four of those five wins including two in 2006 when it defeated No. 13 seed Texas A&M twice before bowing out to UMass in the regional finals. The Mountain Hawks also notched a win in 2001 over Seton Hall. Army owns the only other League win in the NCAA Tournament, defeating Utah in 2002.

Lehigh Leads The League Again Lehigh won its Patriot League-leading 10th championship title this season. Army is next with four championship wins. Colgate has won three titles, while Bucknell and Holy Cross have each been crowned champion once. Lafayette, the runner-up each of the past two seasons, is the lone Patriot League team without a softball championship.

35 And Up This year marked the ninth straight season that Lehigh collected at least 35 victories. In 2006 Lehigh won both a school record and Patriot League record 43 games.

Three-Time MVP Lehigh's Lisa Sweeney went 3-0 in the Patriot League Tournament, allowing just two just two runs on 10 hits in 22 innings of work. She walked just five batters while striking out 21. At the plate, she was 7-for-9 (.778) with six RBI and two runs scored. The MVP award was the third in Sweeney's career, having also won it in 2006 and 2008. She is the first softball player in League history to be named MVP three times. Lehigh's Meri Wall in the only other player to have won the award twice. Wall shared the honors in 1993 and won outright in 1994.

History Made By Sweeney Lehigh senior Lisa Sweeney is the most decorated pitcher in Patriot League history. She received her fourth Patriot League Pitcher of the Year honor last week, becoming the first Patriot League player to win the award four times. She was also named Patriot League Player of the Year in 2008. She became the 25th player to be selected to the All-Patriot League Team in four consecutive seasons and the first since 2006. She is the seventh player in Patriot League history to receive First-Team All-Patriot League honors in four straight years. She is also the second player in the history of the League to be named to the All-Patriot League Team five times, joining Colgate's Tara McGroff. Sweeney was named to the All-League team as a pitcher and an outfielder in 2008.

2009 Patriot League Softball Scholar-Athlete Of The Year Lehigh's Lisa Sweeney was voted the 2009 Patriot League Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year last week. The scholar-athlete of the year award is voted on by the Patriot League's softball sports information directors, who can not vote for their own student-athletes. Sweeney is the recipient of the Lehigh Graduating Female Athlete Award and the Lehigh Scholar-Athlete Award. In 2008, she was an ESPN The Magazine Third-Team All-American. She is also a two-time Academic All-District selection. Sweeney recently completed her second year as the co-chair of Lehigh's award-winning community outreach program, C.O.A.C.H. A native of Lumberton, N.J., Sweeney holds a 3.79 grade point average as a history major.