Posted: March 3, 2004
Bethlehem, PA – Lehigh opened its home schedule on Wednesday afternoon with a doubleheader against the visiting Drexel Dragons. The Mountain Hawks won the first game 8-0 in five innings, but darkness ended the second game at a 2-2 tie after seven.
In the first game, the Lehigh offense was explosive, scoring in each of the first four innings on their way to invoking the eight-run mercy rule over Drexel. The biggest inning was the second, which saw the Mountain Hawks pound out four runs on five hits. Lehigh also got two runs in the first, and one each in the third and fourth.
Freshman hurler Heather Hamasaki (2-0) was equally as good, giving up just one hit in 4 innings of work. Stefanie Forlenza came in and worked an incredibly efficient fifth, getting three outs on just three pitches to end the game.
In the second game offense was a little harder to come by. Both teams were scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when a Mary Wieder single scored Jessica Young to give Lehigh a 1-0 lead.
Drexel came back though, getting their first runs on the day in the top of the sixth. The Dragons got two base hits from Bri Brown and Chrissy Hulme to start the inning. Kate Arico then struck out Bridget Flynn, and appeared to have a potential inning-ending double play ball off the bat of Liz Fuller, but Arico threw wide to second and all the runners were safe. Jonnae McClain then took advantage of the miscue with a single that plated two runners and Drexel led 2-1.
Then it was Lehigh’s turn to retaliate, and they did it quickly as Jessica Young scored in the bottom half of the inning on a single by Wieder.
The score was still tied after seven, and though both teams wanted to continue the game was called due to darkness.
Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan was much happier with the first game than the second. “I thought we did everything well in the first game,” said Troyan. “We batted well, pitched well, and played great defense. But we lost some of that energy in the second game, and it cost us. We have to mature some and keep up that energy if we are going to compete for a championship.”
Wieder was the offensive star of the day, going 3-6 with 5 RBIs on the afternoon, including driving in both of Lehigh’s runs in the second game. Shana Treon was 3-7 with two RBIs and two runs as well.
The Mountain Hawks head to Kissimmee, FL for their spring break trip on Sunday, with a slew of games on the schedule. First up will be a Sunday, March 7, afternoon game with Toledo set for 2:15.