Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Lafayette
Softball Sweeps Lafayette To Clinch PL Berth
April 20, 2012 | Softball
April 20, 2012
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Amanda Nguyen went 6-for-7 with three runs scored and Alexis AuBuchon was 4-for-7 with a pair of doubles, one run scored and three RBI in support of freshman Morgan Lashley, who fired a pair of shutout decisions, as Army clinched a berth to the Patriot League Tournament with a doubleheader sweep of Lafayette at the Softball Complex Friday evening.
Completing its fifth conference doubleheader sweep of the season, the Black Knights (29-15) blanked the Leopards 2-0 in the first game followed by a 4-0 nightcap decision. Army stretched its league win streak to seven for an 11-3 mark in earning its third straight bid to the league tournament under head coach Michelle DePolo, while wrapping up its 19th berth overall.
"Clinching a berth is certainly nice," said Coach DePolo, "however, our objective this weekend is to keep moving up in the hunt for the regular season title. We are here to play each series one game at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch."
Army is just one win away from becoming the fourth team, and second in three years, to reach the 30-win plateau in school history. The Black Knights recorded 33 wins in 2010 setting a Division I mark and tying the school's overall record set in 1988 when the Black Knights competed at Division II.
Lashley stretched her school single-season wins mark to 25 following her seventh and eighth straight decisions. The freshman right-hander scattered six hits in both wins, struck out nine batters and issued just two walks in going the distance (14 innings) in the circle.
Army staked Lashley to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning of the first game on AuBuchon's two-out double driving in Nguyen, 3-for-3, who singled and moved to second on a fielder's choice. A second run crossed on that play, but was called back when the umpire ruled the runner missed home plate.
Alex Reynolds' RBI single up the middle in the fifth inning scored April Ortenzo, who reached on a fielder's choice and moved into scoring position on Nguyen's infield hit, for an insurance run and 2-0 lead as the Black Knight banged out seven hits off starter Melissa Robinson (10-17).
Lafayette placed seven runners on base in the opener, but failed to score against Lashley, who only allowed three into scoring position. After being touched for back-to-back hits with one out in the top of the second, Lashley retired the side on back-to-back strikeouts. The native of North Carolina got out safely in the fifth by turning a double play after issuing both her walks in that frame. Touched for a pair of hits sandwiched around an out in the sixth, Lashley got of safely retiring five straight batters to preserve her sixth shutout of the season.
AuBuchon and Nguyen each collected three hits in four plate appearances, along with a 2-for-4 performance by Reynolds, in pacing Army's 10-hit attack.
Lafayette yielded a single run to the Black Knights in the bottom of the second inning of the nightcap on Marina Northup's run-scoring single in delivering AuBuchon, who smacked a leadoff double. The Black Knights plated single runs over the next three innings. AuBuchon knocked in two of the next three runs, both times driving in Nguyen from second base after she singled and stole second in the third and fifth innings. Sandwiched in between was Ali Cleinmark's run-scoring single scoring Reanna Johnson in the fourth inning.
While Army was building its cushion, Lashley worked her way out of early jams and a late one in preserving her seventh shutout and Army's eighth of the season. She denied the Leopards in the first inning on an infield popup with a pair of runners on base. After stranding a runner at third in the second inning, Lashley retired 13 of the next 16 batters she faced before getting into trouble in the top of the seventh. A fielding error and a single with one out put runners at second and third, but Lashley (25-11) nipped that rally retiring the side on a groundout and strikeout on a 2-2 pitch.
The Black Knights close out their four-game series with the Leopards Saturday with the first pitch at 1 p.m. However, due to inclement weather later in the day, the start might be moved up an hour.
"Saturday is going to be even more important," adds DePolo. "Each game in conference play is crucial. Tomorrow we will approach each game as we have been doing thus far."
DIAMOND NOTES: Alexis AuBuchon continues to lead Army in batting and currently is hitting .410 with a team-high 30 RBI ... Amanda Nguyen is the leader in hits (58) and runs scored (31) batting .384 with April Ortenzo third in hits (54) and second in runs scored (30) batting .353 ... Alex Reynolds is second in RBI (27) and third in runs scored (26) ... RHP Morgan Lashley shows a 2.22 ERA along with 178 strikeouts which ranks third on Army's single-season chart and is just one shy of moving into second place ... Lashley's 25 wins are four shy of the school's overall mark of 29 set by Colleen McCabe in 1988 when Army competed at the Division II level ... AuBuchon ranks second on Army's career list for hits (210), RBI (103), doubles (49), walks (67) and total bases (298) ... Nguyen lists third all-time in stolen bases with 44 and is ninth in runs scored (72) ... Army stretched its home win streak to 12 straight which ranks fifth highest among the nation's longest active home winning streaks.
