Patriot League Softball Tournament Central
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After managing only four runs while getting swept by Lehigh during the final weekend of the regular season, Army finally broke through and scored four times in the top of the ninth inning to defeat top seed and host Lehigh 5-1 in the opening game of the Patriot League tournament at Kaufman Field.
The Black Knights will play second-seeded Boston University at 10:35 a.m. on Friday. The Terriers rallied for a 4-3 win over Bucknell on Brittany Clendenny’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Mountain Hawks and Bison will play an elimination game scheduled for 1:05 p.m. on Friday.
Army third baseman Casey McCravey manufactured a run in the top of the second when she led off with a single off of Lehigh’e Emily Bausher, stole second and third base and scored on an RBI groundout by pitcher Caroline Smith.
That run stood up until the bottom of the sixth when Lehigh freshman Vicky Lattanzio singled home Alexis Watanabe to tie the game. Bausher and Smith would battle through two more scoreless innings before the Black Knights took advantage of six hits and two Mountain Hawks errors in the ninth.
The second game was a similar dogfight as Boston University’s Moriah Connolly hit an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the third inning to offset a solo home run by Bucknell’s Jacee Almond in the top of the frame.
Bucknell took a 3-1 lead on one of Cydnee Sanders’ four singles on the afternoon in the top of the fifth before Brittany Younan and Clendenny delivered RBI hits in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score. Clendenny delivered again two innings later with a one-out walkoff single to plate Connolly with the winning run.
The winner of the BU-Army game on Friday morning will advance to Saturday, needing only one win to secure the Patriot League title. After Lehigh and Bucknell play an elimination game on Friday afternoon, the winner will face the Army-BU loser in another elimination game scheduled for 3:35 p.m.
All three of Friday’s games will be streamed live on www.patriotleague.tv. For up-to-date information on the three-day double elimination event, visit Patriot League Softball Tournament Central.
