Princeton University Athletics
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Softball to Host Lehigh Wednesday in Final Non-League Doubleheader
April 20, 2009 | Softball
PRINCETON -- Princeton's and Lehigh's softball teams meet annually in what is usually a de facto late-season Patriot-Ivy challenge of top teams.
This season, the matchup is on again, and while Lehigh (27-16-1, 13-3 Patriot) lived up to its billing, the Tigers, coming off a 2008 Ivy title season, will enter the annual meeting just short.
Even so, when the Mountain Hawks arrive at Class of 1895 Field for a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Wednesday, they will provide a fitting start to a week that will end with a four-game set against newly anointed Ivy South champions Cornell.
The teams played twice last season, once at Lehigh and once at UMass in an NCAA tournament elimination game, and Lehigh won both. The teams split in Lehigh's last visit to '95 Field, a doubleheader in 2007.
Lehigh had won 13 in a row from March 28 to April 18 before splitting a four-game set with Bucknell over the weekend. The Mountain Hawks boast six starters with batting averages above .300, led by freshman Julie Fernandez (.420), part of a "big three" of home run hitters much like Princeton. Where the Tigers have Jamie Lettire (eight home runs), Kelsey Quist (seven) and Kathryn Welch (five), Lehigh has Lisa Sweeney (seven), Fernandez (four) and Alisha Gonzales (four).
In addition to leading the Mountain Hawks with the bat, Sweeney has been Lehigh's ace in the circle as well, carrying a 17-8 record and 2.44 ERA toward her final postseason. Tiffany Curtis (10-6, 3.17 ERA) is the other commonly used arm for Lehigh.
The Tigers will counter on the slab with junior Jamie Lettire (7-6, 4.07) and sophomore Michelle Tolfa (7-11, 4.29).
Princeton (14-18, 8-8 Ivy) is coming off a four-game set at Penn in which the Quakers took three of four. In combination with Cornell's winning three of four from Columbia, the Big Red moved to five games ahead of Princeton, eliminating the Tigers with only next weekend's four-game series to play.
Welch still leads the Tigers at the plate with a .402 average despite having a difficult 2-for-12 series at the plate against Penn. In addition to batting average, Welch leads the Tigers in runs scored (23), hits (45), doubles (10) and co-leads in triples (two).
Among notable individual performances in recent games, junior Collette Abbott had a big week in six games against Rutgers and Penn, going 9 for 20 for a .450 average. That raised her season average 41 points to .298. Sophomore Megan Weidrick has also been clicking recently, hitting .417 (5 for 12) over the last Rutgers game and the Penn series after missing six games including the entire Columbia series. That raised her average 25 points to .296.
Princeton's season-ending four-game series against Cornell will begin Friday at 12:30 p.m. at '95 Field with a doubleheader before continuing the series Sunday in Ithaca. The program will honor seniors Welch, Brianna Moreno and Erin Miller before Friday's game.