Lehigh collects two weekly awards, readies for Penn DH Wednesday
Posted: 03/18/2013 | Last updated: March 18, 2013 at 04:26 PM
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Two members of the Lehigh softball team garnered Patriot League honors this week following the Mountain Hawks’ spring break trip to Florida. Senior Liz Lucas earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors while sophomore Emily Bausher was named Pitcher of the Week. Lehigh went 4-4 in eight games last week and 4-6 overall on its spring break trip.
Lucas led Lehigh in batting average (.350), hits (nine), doubles (three) and RBI over the Mountain Hawks’ final eight games of the trip. The senior catcher went 3-for-4 with a big three-run home run in Lehigh’s 13-2 win over Saint Peter’s last Thursday and had a three-run double in her only at-bat Friday in a 7-0 win over North Dakota. The home run against Saint Peter’s was the 23rd of her career, tying the Colorado native with Lisa Sweeney ’09 for school career record.
For the season, Lucas leads the Mountain Hawks with 12 runs batted in, to go along with a .293 average and four doubles.
Two of Bausher’s three appearances last week resulted in two-hit shutouts. The sophomore right hander blanked Akron on Monday and then went the distance recording 13 strikeouts in the win over North Dakota. With the two shutouts, Bausher now has eight for her career. She also struck out 14 in a loss to Eastern Illinois last Sunday as she finished spring break with 40 strikeouts in four appearances.
The New Jersey native owns a 3-2 record with a team leading 1.02 ERA through the first 15 games of the season. Bausher has 49 strikeouts in 34.1 innings of work, while opponents are hitting just .177 against her.
The Mountain Hawks (7-7-1) will return to action with a Wednesday doubleheader at Penn.
The Quakers enter Wednesday’s games at 6-10 overall and are coming off a doubleheader sweep of Lafayette on Friday where they outscored the Leopards 19-2 in a pair of run-rule victories. Penn pitcher Alexis Borden no-hit the Leopards in Friday’s opener, while catcher Korinne Raby hit two home runs and drove in nine in the doubleheader.
First pitch for game one on Wednesday is set for 3 p.m. from Penn Park. Following the Penn twinbill, Lehigh will open its home schedule with four games against Niagara, Saturday and Sunday at Kaufman Field.