Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Softball Concludes Non-League Road Schedule, Opens Home Patriot League Slate this Week
4/2/2008 8:00:00 AM | Softball
April 2, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - With 15 of its final 19 games at home, the Bucknell softball team will conclude its road non-league schedule on Thursday when it travels to Loretto, Pa., for a doubleheader against Saint Francis (Pa.). The Bison will kick off that stretch where they conclude the season with a rash of home games this weekend with a four-game series against Colgate. Doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday will begin at 12 p.m.
Bucknell Softball Notebook (8-20, 2-2 PL)
Bucknell Notes
• Bucknell split a pair of doubleheaders at Lafayette last weekend. It is the second time in the last three years the Bison have gone 2-2 on the first weekend of Patriot League play.
• Bucknell played a pair of extra-inning games at Lafayette on Sunday with each team claiming victory once. It was the second time this season the Bison played two extra-inning contests in one day. Bucknell is 2-2 this year in extra-inning outings, matching their 2007 record in those situations.
• For the second time in three weeks, freshman outfielder Lauren Fry was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday. The left-handed hitting Fry posted a .286 batting average, drove in seven runs and scored six runs in eight games last week. She posted a pair of multiple-hit games and ended the week on a six-game hitting streak, equaling the longest by a Bison this season.
• Fry (six games), Ashley Carlson (four games) and Elyse Colmenero (four games) enter Thursday's doubleheader at Saint Francis (Pa.) on lengthy hitting streaks. Fry leads the team in hitting with a .290 batting average, while Carlson has registered at least one hit in 10 of the last 11 games she has played. She is nine hits shy of 100 in her career.
• After opening the season with a 3-15 record, Bucknell has gone 5-5 over its last 10 games. The best the Bison went over any 10-game stretch last year was 7-3.
• Junior Cassie Lloyd, a native of nearby Mifflinburg, hit three home runs last week, vaulting her career total to five. That figure is tied for 10th on the Bison all-time list with Stephanie Morgan.
• Senior pitcher Christie Wiest is having perhaps the best season of her career. She is 6-9 with a 2.34 ERA and has 13 complete games in her 15 starts. She fired a complete-game, five-hit shutout to help the Bison to a 4-0 victory in the first game of last weekend's four-game series at Lafayette. It was her first shutout of the season and the sixth of her career.
• Wiest is among Bucknell's career leaders in games (1st, 103), games started (1st, 80), wins (5th, 26), innings (4th, 480.2), strikeouts (3rd, 302).
• Bucknell has eight home runs this season, two shy of its total from 2007. The program record for home runs in a season is 20. The top four marks in program history have come since 2000.
• Four of Bucknell's top five hitters this season are either freshmen or sophomores.
• Bucknell has 89 walks this season, one shy of its total from all of 2007. The Bison program record is 140. Junior Ashley Beans leads the way with a career-high 17 walks, five more than her career total entering this season.
Bucknell vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) & Colgate
• Bucknell is 16-13 all-time against Saint Francis, although the Red Flash claimed all five meetings one year ago. Saint Francis is 8-20 this year and has lost four straight heading into its home opener vs. the Bison.
• Saint Francis is hitting .250 as a team this year with Nicole Bender (.355), Nicole Waligora (.343) and Kara Stroup (.304) all above .300. Laura Caldwell leads the pitching staff with a 3.76 ERA. The Red Flash have a team ERA of 4.26 and are giving up nearly five runs per game.
• Bucknell holds a slight 34-33 edge in its all-time series with Colgate, but the Bison are just 2-5 against the Raiders over the last two years. Bucknell lost all three games to Colgate to close out the 2007 campaign after entering the weekend with a slight chance to qualify for the Patriot League Tournament.
• Colgate (3-7) had its Patriot League-opening weekend series with Holy Cross postponed due to weather last weekend. The Raiders will play a single game at Binghamton on Thursday in their first action since March 21. Colgate was picked to finish second in the Patriot League in the preseason.
• The Raiders bring a team batting average of .259 into Thursday's contest at Binghamton. They have a 4.97 ERA.
2008 Bucknell Weekly Honors
• Patriot League Player of the Week:
- Alison Ford (3/24)
• Patriot League Rookie of the Week:
- Lauren Fry (3/17, 3/31)
• ECAC Player of the Week:
- Alison Ford (3/26)
Up Next
• Bucknell will take on local foe Susquehanna in a single game on Thursday, April 10. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m. at Bucknell's Varsity Softball Field. The Bison are 9-2 all-time against the Crusaders, but the two squads have not met since 1985.
Bucknell's Schedule this Week
Thursday, April 3
Bucknell at Saint Francis (Pa.) (DH), 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 5
Colgate at Bucknell (DH), 12 p.m.
Sunday, April 6
Colgate at Bucknell (DH), 12 p.m. (Audio Broadcast: NONE)
