South Mountaineer Volume 36, Issue 26

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Volume 36, Number 26
Bethlehem, Pa.
LEHIGHLIGHTS
BOOSTERS BANQUET-The Southside
Boosters held its annual Lehigh
Athletics Award Banquet this past
Friday night at the Sokol Catholic Club.
Receiving awards as outstanding players
from their respective sports were seniors
Dave Cecchini and Scott
Semptimphelter (football), senior
Mike McKee (men's basketball), senior
Chris O'Byrne (wrestling), sophomore
Jeff Cline (swimming), senior Nicole
Miller (volleyball), senior Gretchen
Repasky (track and cross country),
senior Kristi Kungl (women's tennis)
and senior Meri Wall (softball). The
Nick Timko Award, which is presented
annually to two Lehigh football
freshmen, went to Lance Eckenrode
and Marc Wilson.
SOFTBALL STARS - The Patriot
League released its 1994 All-League
team for softball prior to last weekend's
exciting tournament and 10 Engineers
were recognized. First-team members
were junior pitcher Nina Rems, junior
catcher Karen Kascinski, junior
rightfielder Natalie Nestor and
sophomore firstbaseman Jessica
Feigley. Lehigh placed six players on
the All-League Second Team, including
senior pitcher Meri Wall, who was
named co-Pitcher of the Year, sophomore
shortstop Kim Miller, sophomore third
baseman Kathy Kotula, sophomore
second baseman Donna Milia,
freshman centerfielder Amanda
Wessner and freshman designated
hitter Karen Schaefer. The 10 players
selected was tops amongst all teams in
the league.
A HALL OF FAME EVENING - The
second annual Lehigh Athletics Hall
of Fame Dinner will take place this
Saturday, May 7 in Iaccoca Hall.
Cocktails will be served at 5:15 with
dinner set for 6:15 p.m. Anyone
interested in attending should call Craig
Anderson, director of athletics
partnership, at 758-4301. Over 150
people are already expected to attend.
INSIDE the Mountaineer
Spring sports roundup 2
D'Alberto up to par 3
Lehberger letting loose 3
Spring sports slate 4
DID YOU KNOW?
The Engineer softball
team's dramatic victory
over Army on Sunday gave
the program the distinction
of being the first-ever
Lehigh team to win back-
to-back Patriot League
championships since
Lehigh joined the league
in 1990.
IT'S A LEHIGH REPEAT!
Wall leads Engineers to second straight dramatic championship
By MARC GESUALDO
South Mountaineer Editor
When the Lehigh softball team
walked off the field as Patriot League
champions in 1993 after winning three
straight games on the final day, many
fans at Pates Park
said it was a feat
that could never
again be matched.
Well, they were
wrong...and guess
who's back on top.
In an incredible
display of guts and
fortitude last
weekend, the
Engineers came out
of the losers' bracket
in the double-
elimination
tournament for the
second straight
season and captured
the 1994 Patriot
League
championship with
a marathon 2-1
victory over Army in
11 innings.
Even those who
can stand the most dramatic moments
couldn't help but hold their breath each
time a pitch crossed the plate.
"That has to be the most exciting
day of softball I've ever been associated
with," said Lehigh head coach Sue
Troyan. "Every kid from both teams
was going all out and it just made for a
great weekend of competition."
And not even Hans Christian
Andersen could have written a better
storybook ending than the script which
senior pitcher Meri Wall authored.
Wall pitched all 11 innings in the
finale and yielded just one earned run.
But what will be remembered most of
all is her two-out, two-strike single
over the head of Army leftfielder Leann
Bjonstadt which plated Karen
Kascinski with the title-winning run in
the bottom of the 11th.
"I couldn't have dreamed up a better
ending and I've never been so happy in
my life," Wall said. "I had been up a
couple of times previously with a chance
to win the game and I struck out. This
time, I just told myself I was going to
get the run home somehow."
Not surprisingly, Wall scampered
off with the tournament's Most Valuable
Player Award for the second year in a
row after a herculean effort over the
weekend.
First, she pitched Lehigh to an 8-0
win over Lafayette in Saturday's first
game and struck out a season-high 10
batters while allowing only one hit.
Then after the Engineers lost a 2-
1 heartbreaker to Army that same night
(despite a brilliant pitching effort from
Nina Rems), Wall came back with a 2-
0 whitewashing of Bucknell in Sunday's
first tilt to eliminate the Bison and give
the Engineers another shot at Army.
"We felt like we'd be in pretty good
shape if we could get the win over Bucknell
and just narrow it down to us and Army,"
Troyan said. "I was confident Nina wouldn't
lose two games in a row and no one is more
clutch than Meri in the biggest games."
at 1-1, none of the 300 people who had
packed Pates Park could imagine what
they were about to witness for the next
seven innings.
Wall and Copcutt engaged in a pitching
battle of epic proportions with both teams
getting runners to third base on several
occasions but not
coming   through
with the
backbreaker.
Fittingly
enough, it ended
when one pitcher
took it upon herself
to go that extra mile
for her team. Wall
was in an 0-2 hole
but fouled off
several pitches and
worked the count
full before lining
the ball past
Bjornstaclt, who
was playing
extremely shallow
in left.
"I was actually
trying to pull the
ball down the right
field   line   but   I
wound up hitting it
where I always do," Wall said. "Once I got
two strikes on me I just hacked at anything
close because I'd rather swing than get
caught looking."
As Kascinski crossed the plate, the
delirious Lehigh fans exploded and the
Engineer players mobbed their senior hero
in a celebration scene which conjured up
memories of last season's thrilling
championship run.
And while any normal athlete would
have been physically drained from the
grueling duel, Wall said she still had plenty
of adrenalin pumping in the extra innings.
m—__
Natalie Nestor (front) leads the Lehigh charge after Meri Wall's game-winning hit. -Photo by Daryl Smith
Troyan proved to be quite the prophet
on both counts as Lehigh picked up a 9-7
win over the Lady Knights, leaving both
teams with one loss and setting up the
incredible finale.
In that first win over Army, Kathy
Kotula, Jessica Feigley and Amanda
Wessner each had two hits but the two big
blows were an RBI double by Karen
Kascinski and a two-run double by Donna
Milia in the fifth which turned a tie game
into a 7-4 Engineer lead.
"All year we've had different people
contributing and someone new stepping up
eachgame,"Troyansaid. "That's
what   makes   this   team   a
pleasure to coach and they never
lose their positive attitude."
Eventually, that kind of
thinking paid off for the
Engineers as they, were able to
prevail in a tension-packed final
game which will be the talk of
the league for years to come.
Army actually struck first
with a first-inning run for an
early 1-0 lead, but it would be
the only time in the tournament
that an opposing runner would
cross the plate off Wall.
Another Lehigh hero
stepped forward in the fourth
inning as junior rightfielder
Natalie Nestor smacked a key
two-out triple to score Feigley
with the tying run.
"I was just looking for a
pitch that I could drive because
I knew Jess would be running with two
outs," Nestor said. "She (Carolyn Copcutt)
gave me something I could handle and I was
able to pull it over the leftfielder's head."
As Feigley came home to even the game
J*
The hero: Meri Wall delivers another strike. -Photo by Karen Steele
"Once it got to that point, I knew I
would have to incorporate other pitches in
with my fastball," Wall said. "But I felt
-See REPEAT page2