The Brown & White

The softball team will play a four-game series at home against the College of the Holy Cross Crusaders on Saturday and Sunday.

The Mountain Hawks are 27-16-1 on the season and 13-3 in Patriot League play.

While the Hawks clinched a spot in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament last weekend, Holy Cross is looking to make the tournament for the first time since 2003. The Crusaders are tied for fourth place in the league with Bucknell University. The top four teams earn a spot at the tournament.

Lehigh is coming off of a series split against the Bucknell Bison, who are 15-19 overall and 6-10 in league play. Lehigh won the first game 10-1 and lost the second 3-1.

Senior pitcher Lisa Sweeney pitched a two-hit shutout in game one to extend the Hawks' win streak to 13 games with a 2-0 win. Sweeney also had two and one-third scoreless innings after entering game two to relieve junior Tiffany Curtis.

Freshman infielder Jen Colquhoun drove in both runs for the Hawks, bringing in senior outfielder Ali Torborg with a fourth-inning infield single and scoring freshman infielder Julie Fernandez on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

Colquhoun and Fernandez each had two hits in game one.

Sophomore infielder Alex Cueva went 3-for-3 in game three and sophomore catcher Carly Potock drove in three runs.

Freshman outfielder Audra Wood said the team is searching for a win against Holy Cross after the two losses against Bucknell.

"I think it will help us," Wood said. "[The loss] gives us a real desire to win. We will come out ready and expecting to win because we know we can."

Fernandez does not think the losses will affect how the team will play against Holy Cross.

"I don't think the split against Bucknell will affect our team at all," Fernandez said. "This weekend is senior weekend, so the entire team is going to be very focused and excited."

Potock agreed senior weekend would fire up the team.

"We clinched a spot in the Patriot League tournament this past weekend, but our split with Bucknell got us pretty fired up and we are ready to take four from Holy Cross," Potock said. "It will be senior weekend and there will be about 80 alumni and their families there, so we will have a lot of fans and it should be a great weekend."

Last season, the Crusaders split the series with Lehigh, winning the second game on each day of the doubleheader. Holy Cross junior pitcher Dettey Audette picked up the win for both games.

The Crusaders are coming into the series after defeating the Lafayette College Leopards 3-1 on Saturday and Sunday. Against Lafayette, Holy Cross freshman pitcher Camille Trainor tallied her first career win. Trainor pitched three and one-third innings, allowing just one run on four hits. Sophomore pitcher Katie Alexander also picked up her first win of the season for the Crusaders.

Holy Cross freshman outfielder Nicole Ortiz hit her first career home run against the Leopards.

Three Crusaders- junior infielder Tiffany Medwid, freshman infielder Gwen Reimer, and Audette- are tied for second on the Holy Cross single-season stolen base record list with 14 each.

Despite Holy Cross' recent pitching excellence, Lehigh's Sweeney should put up a stellar showing at Kaufman Field. Sweeney pitched in five of Lehigh's six wins last week, picking up four wins and one save. She gave up just two runs while scattering 18 hits in 26 innings on the mound. She struck out 36 batters while walking only six batters.

Sweeney has now won eight straight decisions with an ERA of 2.66. She batted .525 with three RBIs last week.

This weekend's series will determine which teams will take the final spots in the tournament. Colgate University clinched its spot in the tournament last weekend.

"I think we can win the tournament," Wood said. "We feel like everyone will be gunning for us but I think that it will make us that much more focused and pumped to win. Especially, since we're probably playing Army or Bucknell in the first round."

Fernandez said the team's improvements throughout the season will be important in the tournament.

"We have improved a lot throughout the season and during the tournament I think we will be playing at our best," Fernandez said. "At our best, I believe we can beat anyone in the league."

Game times for the series are set for 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.