2008 Woodie Awards
RSSSoftball: Second half of season begins on Long Island
Mountain Hawks head into doubleheader after Saturday's win over Army.
By Nick Pison
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Sports
The women's softball team travels to Hempstead, N.Y. on Wednesday to face the Hofstra University Pride in a doubleheader.
The squad heads into the game after a league opener victory over the Army Black Knights.
On Saturday at West Point the Mountain Hawks went 5-1 and 4-0 against the Black Knights.
Freshman infielder Alex Cueva went 6-for-8 and secured four doubles in Saturday's victories. In the 5-1 victory, she went four-for-four and had three RBIs.
The Hawks progressed to conclude the long weekend by winning both game on Sunday, 3-2 and 6-3, respectively.
Near the mid-way point of its season with a 19-4 record, the team has started out strong.
Besides a 1-2 loss to Valparaiso University on their spring break trip in Kissimmeee, Fl., the Hawks are undefeated on the road.
The Hawks are doing just as well against competitors at home.
Last weekend, the Hawks emerged victorious over the University of Pennsylvania Quakers in both games of a doubleheader, 9-2 and 5-3.
In the first game, junior pitcher Lisa Sweeney emerged as the team's leader on defense.
Sweeney had a 9-1 record with an ERA under 1.00. Against the Quaker batters, Sweeney allowed only three hits while striking out 15.
She was recently named the Patriot League pitcher of the week for the third time this season and for the second consecutive week.
On offense, Cueva stepped up to the plate.
In the third inning, Cueva hit a lead-off solo home run, the first of her career. Two innings later, Cueva crushed another ball over the fence in left field for her second lead-off solo home run of the day.
Cueva said hitting back-to-back home runs helped drive the victory and was a great experience.
"It was amazing," Cueva said. "I've never hit back-to-back home runs and helping the team win makes it even better."
Sophomore pitcher Tiffany Curtis earned the victory in the team's second game, improving her record to 8-3. Curtis allowed only three runs on three hits.
Junior outfielder Alisha Gonzales led the way in the batter's box with one home run and three RBI's. Gonzales is hitting .340 on the season.
Freshman pitcher Briana Gaumer said she believes the wins over the Quakers will give the team plenty of momentum heading into the second half of the season.
"[The wins] are really good momentum going into leagues," Gaumer said. "It's like a whole new season when we head into leagues."
League games are crucial to the team's season, but the Hawks have a lot of contributors to help, especially in the freshman class.
Freshman infielder Alex Cueva has started in all 23 games this season. She is batting .264 with 18 RBI's on the season and is second on the team in runs with 16.
Freshman pitcher Briana Gaumer holds a 1-0 record with eight strikeouts in only 10 innings pitched.
Freshmen utility players Carly Potock and Sam Miller have both started in almost half of the games and have batting averages in the .300s.
Cueva said she and the other freshmen understand the impact they need to make in order for the team to be successful.
"We're all trying to help the team any way we can," Cueva said. "We are all different and contribute in different ways. I think we are all making great individual impacts."
Gaumer said she agreed, and gave credit to Head Coach Fran Troyan and the team itself.
"The support of the team helped us a lot," Gaumer said. "We are all treated as equals by everyone, including coach. It's a big team effort. We all help each other."
The Hofstra Pride are 18-9 on the season after defeating the Towson University Tigers 4-0 in the weekend series' conclusion.
The Pride's junior pitcher Kayleigh Lotti secured the team's defense. Lotti had her second two-hit shutout of the weekend and had 11 strikeouts.
The Hawks will certainly look to contain the Pride's offensive leader, sophomore outfielder, Kris Root. Root leads the Pride in batting average, .360, hits, 27, and runs, 18, and stolen bases with 16.
The Pride defeated the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights 10-1 in their last game.
The team rallied behind freshman outfielder Sara Michalowski, who went 3-5 with a three run home run. Sophomore second baseman Casey Fee went 4-5 with four RBIs.
Root went 2-4 with two runs. She added two stolen bases to bring her season total to 16, only five away from the school record.
This Wednesday, the team will look to the entire team to keep their season rolling the right way.
Cueva said the team is very confident, but no-where near cocky about the rest of the season, and that the preparation the team has invested is expected to pay off.
"We feel really strongly going in [to league play]," she said. "We've been working hard in practices and everyone is just ready to get started."
The first pitch of game one is set to be thrown at the Hofstra Softball Stadium at 3 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on lehighsports.com.
The squad heads into the game after a league opener victory over the Army Black Knights.
On Saturday at West Point the Mountain Hawks went 5-1 and 4-0 against the Black Knights.
Freshman infielder Alex Cueva went 6-for-8 and secured four doubles in Saturday's victories. In the 5-1 victory, she went four-for-four and had three RBIs.
The Hawks progressed to conclude the long weekend by winning both game on Sunday, 3-2 and 6-3, respectively.
Near the mid-way point of its season with a 19-4 record, the team has started out strong.
Besides a 1-2 loss to Valparaiso University on their spring break trip in Kissimmeee, Fl., the Hawks are undefeated on the road.
The Hawks are doing just as well against competitors at home.
Last weekend, the Hawks emerged victorious over the University of Pennsylvania Quakers in both games of a doubleheader, 9-2 and 5-3.
In the first game, junior pitcher Lisa Sweeney emerged as the team's leader on defense.
Sweeney had a 9-1 record with an ERA under 1.00. Against the Quaker batters, Sweeney allowed only three hits while striking out 15.
She was recently named the Patriot League pitcher of the week for the third time this season and for the second consecutive week.
On offense, Cueva stepped up to the plate.
In the third inning, Cueva hit a lead-off solo home run, the first of her career. Two innings later, Cueva crushed another ball over the fence in left field for her second lead-off solo home run of the day.
Cueva said hitting back-to-back home runs helped drive the victory and was a great experience.
"It was amazing," Cueva said. "I've never hit back-to-back home runs and helping the team win makes it even better."
Sophomore pitcher Tiffany Curtis earned the victory in the team's second game, improving her record to 8-3. Curtis allowed only three runs on three hits.
Junior outfielder Alisha Gonzales led the way in the batter's box with one home run and three RBI's. Gonzales is hitting .340 on the season.
Freshman pitcher Briana Gaumer said she believes the wins over the Quakers will give the team plenty of momentum heading into the second half of the season.
"[The wins] are really good momentum going into leagues," Gaumer said. "It's like a whole new season when we head into leagues."
League games are crucial to the team's season, but the Hawks have a lot of contributors to help, especially in the freshman class.
Freshman infielder Alex Cueva has started in all 23 games this season. She is batting .264 with 18 RBI's on the season and is second on the team in runs with 16.
Freshman pitcher Briana Gaumer holds a 1-0 record with eight strikeouts in only 10 innings pitched.
Freshmen utility players Carly Potock and Sam Miller have both started in almost half of the games and have batting averages in the .300s.
Cueva said she and the other freshmen understand the impact they need to make in order for the team to be successful.
"We're all trying to help the team any way we can," Cueva said. "We are all different and contribute in different ways. I think we are all making great individual impacts."
Gaumer said she agreed, and gave credit to Head Coach Fran Troyan and the team itself.
"The support of the team helped us a lot," Gaumer said. "We are all treated as equals by everyone, including coach. It's a big team effort. We all help each other."
The Hofstra Pride are 18-9 on the season after defeating the Towson University Tigers 4-0 in the weekend series' conclusion.
The Pride's junior pitcher Kayleigh Lotti secured the team's defense. Lotti had her second two-hit shutout of the weekend and had 11 strikeouts.
The Hawks will certainly look to contain the Pride's offensive leader, sophomore outfielder, Kris Root. Root leads the Pride in batting average, .360, hits, 27, and runs, 18, and stolen bases with 16.
The Pride defeated the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights 10-1 in their last game.
The team rallied behind freshman outfielder Sara Michalowski, who went 3-5 with a three run home run. Sophomore second baseman Casey Fee went 4-5 with four RBIs.
Root went 2-4 with two runs. She added two stolen bases to bring her season total to 16, only five away from the school record.
This Wednesday, the team will look to the entire team to keep their season rolling the right way.
Cueva said the team is very confident, but no-where near cocky about the rest of the season, and that the preparation the team has invested is expected to pay off.
"We feel really strongly going in [to league play]," she said. "We've been working hard in practices and everyone is just ready to get started."
The first pitch of game one is set to be thrown at the Hofstra Softball Stadium at 3 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on lehighsports.com.
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