May 14, 2010

Patriot League Softball Championship page

West Point, N.Y. - Colgate and Bucknell took the last two spots in the Patriot League Softball Tournament, but the two will square off for the League Championship on Saturday after surviving the double-elimination tournament on Friday.

No. 4 seed Colgate has the driver's seat to win the crown as it came back from a three-run deficit to beat No. 3 Bucknell, 5-4, in eight innings in a winner's bracket matchup in the first of three contests on Friday. The Raiders will need to win just one game on Saturday to claim the title.

After Army eliminated two-time defending champion Lehigh, 4-1, in the second game, Bucknell stayed alive and advanced to the title round by taking out the top seed and host Black Knights, 2-1, in the nightcap. Because they already have one loss, the Bison will need to beat Colgate twice on Saturday to be crowned Patriot League champion.

For more information, including live stats for all games and post-game box scores and recaps, go to the Patriot League Softball Championship Page

No. 3 Bucknell 2, No. 1 Army 1
Box Score

West Point, N.Y. - Bucknell advanced to face Colgate in the Patriot League Championship as Alex MacLean allowed just one hit and an unearned run to lead the Bison past Army, 2-1, in the final contest on Friday at Army Softball Complex.

The Bison (26-18-1) jumped ahead in the third inning, as Alyssa Okita drove in Jane Messersmith for the first run of the game. Bucknell made it 2-0 in the fourth when Messersmith singled in Elyse Colmenero.

Army (33-20) got one run back in the fifth as Natalia Gruenbaun scored on an error, but MacLean shut the door from there. The hurler did not allow a Black Knight to reach base in the final two innings as she closed out a one-hit, no-walk complete-game victory. MacLean struck out five on the evening.

Messersmith was the star at the plate for the Bison, going 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI.

Beverly Nordin took the loss for the Black Knights, giving up both of Bucknell's runs in three innings of work.

No. 1 Army 4, No. 2 Lehigh 1
Box Score

West Point, N.Y. - Two-time defending champion Lehigh became the first team eliminated from the 2010 Patriot League Softball Tournament, as top-seed Army scored all of its runs in the fifth inning to break open a scoreless game and beat the Mountain Hawks, 4-1, on Friday at Army Softball Complex.

The Black Knights (33-19) advanced to face Bucknell in an elimination game, but fell to the Bison, 2-1.

Lehigh (31-19) is eliminated from the Patriot League Tournament before the Championship round for the first time since 2003. The Mountain Hawks had won the last two and five of the past six titles.

The game was scorless into the bottom of the fifth inning, when Army's Alex Reynolds delivered the big blow with a three-run double to break the deadlock. Alexis AuBuchon notched a run-scoring knock as well to give Army a 4-0 advantage.

Lehigh got a run back in the sixth on a home run by Liz Lucas, but that was all the Mountain Hawks could manage against Army starter Shawna Bleyl. Bleyl allowed just five hits and two walks with three strikeouts over seven innings to improve to 15-4 on the season. She set the Mountain Hawks down in order in the seventh.

Jessica Garcia was the only Army player with multiple hits, while five others had one base knock. Reynolds was 1-for-3 with a run and the three RBIs.

Lucas was Lehigh's only player with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with the home run. Rebecca Bliss gave up four runs in five innings of work on the mound.

No. 4 Colgate 5, No. 3 Bucknell 4 (8 innings)
Box Score

West Point, N.Y. - A three-run homerun by Emmie Dolfi tied the score in the top of the sixth inning and Nicole Siedhof drove in the winning run with a single up in the middle in the eighth as Colgate (27-21) moved on to the Patriot League Championship game by defeating Bucknell (25-18-1), 5-4, in a winner's bracket game of the Patriot League Softball Tournament on Friday at Army Softball Complex.

The Raiders have won their first two games in the tournament to advance to the Championship at Noon on Saturday, where they will need to win just one of two games. Bucknell won an elimination game against Army, 2-1, later in the day to advance to the championship, where it will need to beat Colgate twice on Saturday.

The Bison jumped on the board with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Colgate cut the advantage in half in the fourth with a Jennifer Ortega home run, but Bucknell extended the lead with a run in the bottom of the frame and another in the fifth.

In the sixth inning, Colgate got back-to-back singles from Stephanie Hartquist and Ortega with one out. After a groundout advanced the runners, Dolfi hit a full-count pitch over the left-field wall for her fourth home run of the season.

Bucknell had runners on 2nd and 3rd with a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Courtney O'Connell struck out Jessie Snyder to end the threat.

Siedhof's hit drove in the winning run, and O'Connell issued only a two-out walk in the eighth inning before closing out the victory.

O'Connell allowed just one earned run and scattered 10 hits to earn a complete-game victory and improve to 10-6 for the year. Dolfi was 3-for-4 and Ortega went 2-for-4 to go with the key home runs.

Mary Pavlovich went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for the Bison, while Sherry Finkel had three hits. Alex MacLean took the loss despite allowing just one hit and an unearned run in 2.1 innings of work.