SOFTBALL GAME CENTRAL

2011 PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

THIS WEEK
Thurs.- Sat., May 12-14 – Patriot League Tournament

This week the Colgate University softball team will host the 2011 Patriot League Tournament at Eaton Street Field. Thursday the tournament will begin at 2:00 p.m. when No. 2 Lehigh faces No. 3 Holy Cross before the Raiders face No. 4 Army at 4:30 p.m. Each game can be seen live on Patriot League All-Access with play-by-play by John McGraw.

Colgate (25-19, 16-3) won three out of four games against Lafayette to clinch the Patriot League regular season championship with a 16-3 record. The 16 wins are a new school-record for Colgate passing the 15-5 mark the Raiders recorded in 2003. Colgate ranks first in the Patriot League in pitching with a 2.38 ERA and third in hitting with a .272 batting average.

SOFTBALL GAME CENTRAL
Raider fans can follow every Colgate game this season through Softball Game Central located on the Colgate Athletic Website. Softball Game Central keeps fans one click away from live stats and video streaming (when available), and all the information on each opponent from who is leading the all-time series to who won the last game.

LeCOQ NAMED PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Freshman pitcher Rachel LeCoq was named Patriot League Rookie of the Year after finishing the regular season with a 16-7 overall record and a League-best 1.88 earned-run average. She held opposing batters to a League-low .224 average in 149.1 innings. She has struck out 150 batters so far; just nine shy of the League's all-time single-season top 10, and boasts a League-leading four shutouts. She's played in 27 games this season, including 22 starts, and began making appearances out of the bullpen as the regular season wore on, picking up a pair of saves along the way. Her 7.03 strikeouts per seven innings are by far the best in the League, while the second-place statistic is just shy of five punch-outs per seven. LeCoq's selection as Pitcher of the Year breaks Lehigh's six-year stranglehold on the award, and she becomes the first Raider to be so honored since Elena Isaac in 2004.

VAUGHN NAMED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Freshman Tera Vaughn was named Patriot League Rookie of the Year award after posting a .351 batting average with three home runs and 36 RBI during the regular season. Vaughn has started all 44 games in the outfield and recorded team highs in hits (53) and doubles (seven) while scoring 22 runs and slugging .483. All three of her home runs came during League play, and she collected 20 of her 36 RBI against League foes. She hit .343 in 19 League contests during the 2011 regular season and slugged .537 with a .392 on-base percentage. Vaughn is also the hardest player in the nation to strikeout, only fanning three times in 151 at bats.

SIX RAIDERS EARN PATRIOT LEAGUE HONORS
LeCoq and Vaughn were both named to the first team, while Alana Dyson, Stephanie Hartquist, Courtney O'Connell and Nicole Siedhof were chosen to the second team.

Dyson earned second team recognition for the second-straight season and enters Thursday's matchup with Army as one of the top lead-off hitters in the league. Dyson holds a .309 batting average with three triples and 11 RBI, while being walked 14 times this season. Her three triples are tied for the most in the Patriot League.

Hartquist has started all 44 games for the Raiders this season at third base and is hitting .299 with seven home runs and 15 RBI. Her seven home runs rank third in the Patriot League, while she notched at least one hit in 12-consecutive games for the Raiders, which is the longest streak this season. This is the second-straight season Hartquist has garnered second team honors.

Siedhof has started all 44 games at catcher for Colgate this season and enters the postseason hitting .300 with nine home runs and 23 RBI. Her nine homers are tied for second in the league, while her .521 slugging percentage sits seventh.

SCOUTING No. 4 ARMY
The Black Knights (27-23, 9-11) are led by three all-League selections in Alex Reynolds and Amanda Nguyen, who were named to the first team and freshman pitcher Haley Pypes who made the second team. Reynolds tops the League in RBI with 44, while Nguyen sits third in the League with a .366 batting average and leads all in at bats (175), hits (64), runs (40) and stolen bases (26). Her steals are an Army single-season record and third highest in League annals. Pypes has a League-best 10 home runs, placing her tied for seventh on the League's single-season list, while holding a 15-11 record in the circle. As a team Army ranks third in pitching with a 3.31 ERA and fourth in hitting with a .270 batting average. Colgate won all four meetings against the Black Knights in the regular season, but is 3-12 all-time against Army in the Patriot League Tournament.

SCOUTING No. 2 LEHIGH
Lehigh (30-21, 14-5) is the No. 2 seed in the League Tournament and had four student-athletes receive first-team laurels and two make the second team. Julie Fernandez, Jennifer Colquhoun, Liz Lucas and Rebecca Bliss were named to the first team, while Audra Wood and Carly Potock were placed on the second team. Fernandez is hitting .364 with five home runs and 36 RBI, while Lucas is hitting .356 with seven homers and 40 RBI. Bliss has a 14-6 record in the circle with a 2.99 ERA and three saves. Colquhoun, the 2010 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, has made first-team All-League in back-to-back years after making the second team as a freshman in 2009. Colgate finished the regular season with a 2-1 record against the Mountain Hawks and has won three out of the last four meetings. The Raiders are 6-7 all-time against Lehigh in the postseason, winning the last two meetings in 2007.

SCOUTING No. 3 HOLY CROSS
Holy Cross (18-29, 10-10) enters the League Tournament as the third seed, coincidentally collected the third-highest number of All-League selections with five. Keeley Seniuk and Sam Fregenti were named to the first team, while Caitlin Belanger, Tiffany Medwid and Gwen Reimer made the second team. Seniuk is hitting .340 with five homers and 31 RBI, while Fregenti is hitting .358 with nine home runs and 31 RBI. Holy Cross ranks second in the League in hitting with a .272 batting average and fifth in pitching with a 3.98 ERA. Colgate won three out of the four meetings against the Crusaders in the regular season and owns an 8-3 record all-time in the Patriot League Tournament.