April 22, 2007
Lafayette 4, Colgate 3
Lafayette 4, Colgate 2 (8 inn.)
HAMILTON, N.Y. (www.lafayette.edu) - The Lafayette softball team took the final three games of the season series with Colgate this weekend, including both games on Sunday, to move one step closer to its second straight appearance in the Patriot League tournament.
The Leopards won game one 4-3 as senior Megan Averbuch outdueled Colgate's Kelsey Nordstrom to hand the Raiders' hurler her first league loss of the season. In game two, Lafayette pounded out 16 hits but required extra innings to post a 4-2 victory.
Lafayette improves to 9-7 in the Patriot League (19-17 overall), while Colgate falls to 9-3 after entering the weekend with a perfect 8-0 mark. Army is three games behind the Leopards at 6-10 going into next weekend's series at the Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex. Lehigh leads the league with a 15-1 record.
In the opener, both teams traded a pair of runs in the first before Averbuch and Nordstrom settled into a pitchers duel. A pair of two-out walks, an RBI single by freshman Kasey Karr and a throwing error led to the Leopards' runs, while Kortney Hannah homered to lead off the bottom of the first and Erin Gomez drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the score at 2-2.
Lafayette went ahead 3-2 in the second when Christina Giambrone walked with the bases full to plate an unearned run. Colgate scored an unearned run of its own in the third pull even before Sarah Price landed the decisive blow for the Leopards with a leadoff homer in the top of the fifth to give Lafayette a 4-3 advantage.
Averbuch cruised through the final four frames, allowing just one hit and a walk after the third inning. She leveled her season record at 7-7 with her 10th complete game of the year, and the 55th of her career.
Lafayette left 13 runners on base through the first seven innings of the second game before breaking a 2-2 tie in the eighth. Jill Masterton led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Robyn Matchett, which left first base open for Colgate to intentionally walk Giambrone, who was 3-for-4 with two RBI in the game.
Kristen Ruckno made the Raiders pay with an RBI single to score Masterton, and Price provided an insurance run with a single through the left side that brought Ruckno home from second.
Karr went all eight innings for the Leopards, yielding only five hits, and retired the heart of the Colgate lineup in order in the bottom of the eighth to improve to 9-7 in her freshman season.
Masterton was 3-for-3 and scored three runs in the nightcap and Karr was 3-for-5 at the plate to join Giambrone with three hits apiece. The 16 hits are the most by Lafayette this season.
The Leopards will play a doubleheader at Wagner on Wednesday before hosting Army in the final Patriot League series of the year on Saturday and Sunday. One win in the four-game series would put Lafayette into the Patriot League tournament for the second time in as many seasons under head coach Jeanine Gunther.
