March 11, 2008
Lehigh's Lisa Sweeny was a double winner, taking home both the Patriot League Player and Pitcher of the Week awards. The Pitcher of the Week award was the 10th in her career, while the Player of the Week honor was the first. Lehigh swept the weekly awards for the second time this year, with Carly Potock being named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the second time this season.
Patriot League Softball Release - 3.11.08 
Player of the Week
Lisa Sweeney, Lehigh
Jr., OF, Lumberton, N.J.
Sweeney collected five RBI and scored seven runs in Lehigh's seven contests last week at the Rebel Spring Games, in which the Mountain Hawks posted a 7-1 mark. The junior from the Garden State posted a .455 batting average with 10 hits and a .636 slugging percentage with a double and her second home run of the season. She hit safely in six of eight games last week, including three multi-hit games. She had the game-winning RBI single in the 3-2 victory over La Salle and her home run was the Brown and White's only run versus Valparaiso last Tuesday. This is Sweeney's first career Patriot League Player of the Week award.
Pitcher of the Week
Lisa Sweeney, Lehigh
Jr., OF, Lumberton, N.J.
Sweeney was the winning pitcher in four of Lehigh's seven games last week with a 1.00 earned run average and limited opponents to a .130 batting average. She totaled 54 strikeouts last week with four double-digit efforts, including 16 versus Western Carolina to tie her career high. Over the week, she K'd 53% of the batters she faced. The 1-0 win over Valparaiso was her second shutout of the year. Sweeney has been named Patriot League Pitcher of the Week 10 times in her career and is one award away from tying for the League record of career honors for a pitcher.
Rookie of the Week
Carly Potock, Lehigh
Fr., UT, Longmont, Colo.
Potock scored six runs in seven games last week as the Mountain Hawks went 7-1 in Rebel Spring Game contests. The freshman utility player went 3-for-3 with three runs scored in the 4-3 victory over Sacred Heart and scored the game-winning run as a pinch hitter in the 1-0 victory against Valparaiso. She collected seven hits last week, including one double.
Honorable Mention
Erin McClain, Army
So., 3B/C, Ventura, Calif.
Went 4-for-7 at the plate in a doubleheader split with Marist...Scored one run in 2-0 victory over the Red Foxes.
Elaine Plato, Army
Fr., P, Conroe, Texas
Notched Army's first victory of the year in a 2-0 blanking of Marist...Struck out five batters.
Jessica Garcia, Army
Fr., 2B, Brazoria, Texas
Went 3-for-3 in the 2-0 win over Marist...Provided a two-out single RBI to make it 2-0.
Jessie Snyder, Bucknell
Fr., 2B/UT, Tacoma, Wash.
Batted .500 to tie for the Bison lead over two games against George Washington...Had one run and one RBI.
Patriot League Notebook
Sweeney Moves Up
Lehigh junior Lisa Sweeney moved to fifth on the Patriot League's all-time victories list, now with 52 for the sixth spot. The top mark of 65 wins is held by former Mountain Hawk Emily Ling (2002-05). Sweeney also jumped to fifth in all-time strikeouts with 469. Ling is also the League's all-time leader in that category with 610.
Softball In The Sunshine State
Both Holy Cross and Lehigh have completed their trips to the Rebel Spring Games in Florida. The Crusaders posted a 2-8 record and the Mountain Hawks went 9-1.
Three of the Patriot League's remaining four teams will head to the Rebel Spring Games this weekend or early next week. Army will play in the Sunshine State from March 15-21, Colgate from March 16-21 and Lafayette from March 17-21. Bucknell is the only Patriot League team not participating in the Rebel Spring Games this season.
Army First At Home
Army became the first Patriot League team to play at home this season, with a doubleheader versus Marist at West Point last Thursday and a two-game set against Manhattan this past Monday.
Tops In Swipes
As a team, Holy Cross has recorded a Patriot League-high 17 stolen bases and had only one player caught stealing for a .944 success rate.
Bucknell and Army have only had one base runner caught stealing as well, going 6-for-7 and 4-for-5, respectively.
League's Double Leader
Lehigh's Lisa Sweeney leads the Patriot League in both batting and ERA. The Garden State native owns a .528 batting average with 14 runs, 11 RBI, five doubles and two home runs. Her ERA is at a League-low 0.64 mark and she has racked up 86 strikeouts, which is 37 more than any other pitcher in the Patriot League.
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 split its doubleheader at home against Marist last Thursday. The Black Knights also went 1-1 at home on Monday against Manhattan. Sophomore Erin McClain went 4-for-7 in the two-game set against Marist, including a 3-for-4 outing in the second contest. McClain scored one of Army's runs in the 2-0 victory over the Red Foxes. Freshman Elaine Plato earned the 2-0 win for the Black Knights in her first collegiate start and struck out five batters. Freshman Jessica Garcia was a perfect 3-for-3 in the victory, driving in the second run of the game. Freshman Jill Galloway smacked a triple (Army's first of season), collecting a pair of hits in the second game.
Bucknell Head Coach Heather Rakosik coached her 150th game at the helm of the Bison in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader with George Washington. Bucknell's 3-4-5 hitters were a combined 6-for-11 with five runs scored and five RBIs in the 10-5 win over George Washington. Rookie Lauren Fry had four RBIs in the second game, marking the most by a Bison freshman since Mary Pavlovich also had four last April against Penn State. Junior Katie McDonald picked up her first win of season and second career complete game. She posted a career-high seven strikeouts. Freshman Jessie Snyder's .500 batting average (3-for-6) tied for the Bucknell high. Twelve different Bison have driven in runs this year. Last year, just 13 Bison all season recorded RBI. Ashley Carlson and Mary Pavlovich lead Bucknell with seven hits apiece this year.
Colgate Colgate was idle last week and will return to action on Sunday when it heads to Florida for the Rebel Spring games through March 21.
Holy Cross Holy Cross concluded its trip to the Rebel Spring Games last week and came away with a 2-8 record. Freshman Keely Seniuck batted .304 last week with seven hits and a RBI. Rookie Erin Fleming leads all Patriot League freshmen in batting average (.455) and hits (15).
Lafayette Lafayette dropped three games at the Tar Heel Invitational over the weekend, falling to host North Carolina, USC Upstate and Princeton. Senior Kristen Ruckno was the only Lafayette player to notch a hit against the Tar Heels with her first double of the season. Sophomore Kasey Karr had two hits versus Princeton, while classmate Christina Giambrone and freshman Stacey Kushner provided the Leopards with their two runs on the day.
Lehigh Lehigh went 7-1 last week at the Rebel Spring Games to improve to 13-1 on season, by far its best start in school history. Lehigh had three last-at-bat walk-off wins with game-winning RBI from sophomore Brooke Lewis (Valparaiso), junior Whitney Lowe (Western Carolina) and freshman Alex Cueva (Sacred Heart). Junior Lisa Sweeney hit safely in six of eight games last week, including three multi-hit outings. She had a game-winning RBI single versus La Salle and her solo home run accounted for the only run in a 2-1 loss to Valparaiso in the second meeting of the two teams this year. Sweeney also earned four wins, allowing just four earned runs over 28 innings of work and struck out 54. She tied her career with 16 Ks versus Western Carolina. She K'd 53% of batters faced over the five-game span. The earned run she gave up against Western Carolina was the first of the season. Freshman Carly Potock batted .412 last week and scored six runs in seven games.
