Lehigh Splits Pair With GW On Day One Of Liberty Invitational

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3/5/2022 | 12:00 PM

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History

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Lehigh softball team opened play at the Liberty Invitational by splitting two games with George Washington Friday at Kamphuis Field at Liberty Softball Stadium. The Mountain Hawks bounced back from a 7-4 loss in the opener to take the nightcap 5-1.

Travel issues surrounding one of the participating teams necessitated the scheduling change. Instead of facing host Liberty Friday afternoon the Mountain Hawks and Colonials followed Friday’s 9 am contest with a second game.

Sophomore Brooke Cannon led the way for Lehigh with four hits and three RBIs over Friday’s two games. Senior Gabriella Nori was excellent in the circle in game two, allowing a run on five hits with eight strikeouts as the Mountain Hawks picked up the win to improve to 3-4 on the season.

In Friday’s second game, Lehigh fell behind 1-0 in the top of the second on a Maddy Dwyer RBI single.

The Mountain Hawks answered with a three-run, two-out rally in the bottom of the third to take the lead for good. Senior Carley Barjaktarovich drew a two out walk and stole second before scoring the tying run on a single to left by Cannon. Junior Emily Cimino followed with a triple down the right field line, plating Cannon with the go-ahead run. Cimino then scored on a double by senior Jaelynn Chesson, as Lehigh led 3-1 after three.

Lehigh added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth as junior Josie Charles and Barjaktarovich both scored when Cannon reached on an error by left fielder Olivia Vinyard.

Chesson went 2-for-4 at the plate, while Barjaktarovich scored two runs and stole two bases.

Nori evened her season record at 2-2 with her complete-game win.

Defending Atlantic 10 champion George Washington (6-8) opened the game one scoring on Allesandra Ponce’s first-inning RBI single. From there, every Lehigh rally was immediately answered by a GW score.

The Mountain Hawks pulled even in the top of the fourth as senior Karsen O’Rourke singled to left center scoring Chesson, but a Mia Parker RBI double in the bottom of the inning put the Colonials up 2-1.

Cimino doubled home Cannon in the fifth to tie the game again at 2-2, but George Washington answered with three in the bottom of the frame on a Ponce RBI single and Hannah Eslick two-run double.

Cannon capped a 3-for-4 effort in the opener with a two-run single in the sixth to bring the Mountain Hawks within 5-4, but Alexa Williams answered with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth.

George Washington out-hit Lehigh 12-11 in game one with Ponce and Eslick both providing three hits. In addition to Cannon’s three hits, first-year Hanna Aldrich went 2-for-2 in the opener.

First-year Maria Urban started in the circle for Lehigh, allowing four runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings of work with one strikeout. Classmate Anna Bjorklund took the loss allowing three runs in 1.1 innings of relief.

Liberty announced an updated schedule for the remainder of its invitational. On Saturday, Lehigh will now face James Madison at noon and host Liberty at 6 pm The Mountain Hawks will wrap up tournament action against Notre Dame Sunday at 9 am The Liberty game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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