May 16, 2007

Patriot League Softball Release - NCAA
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Colgate To Represent Patriot League At NCAA Softball Tournament

Colgate is appearing in its third NCAA Tournament, having participating in the tourney each of the years it won the Patriot League Championship title (1999, 2003, 2007).

Colgate's first opponent of the NCAA Regional will be third-seeded Oklahoma at the Amherst Regional, playing at the UMass Softball Complex. The Raiders and Sooners will face off at 2 p.m. on May 18. Host UMass and Long Island will also play at the Amherst Regional.

The NCAA Regional is played in double-elimination format, running from Friday, May 18 through Sunday, May 20. Within the regional Oklahoma (52-6) is the top seed, UMass (37-12-1) the No. 2 seed, Long Island (33-20) the No. 3 seed and Colgate (25-22) the No. 4 seed. Two games will be played on Friday, three on Saturday and one or two (if necessary) on Sunday.

While the Raiders have yet to notch a win in the NCAA Tournament, Patriot League teams have earned four victories in eight years of participation. In 2001, Lehigh defeated Seton Hall, 2-0, while Army won a 2-0 game against Utah in 2002. The Mountain Hawks made Patriot League history last season, winning two games at the regional, both coming against the No. 13 seed (Texas A&M) in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Two of the Amherst Regional teams are new opponents for Colgate. The Raiders have never faced Oklahoma or UMass, while going 1-5 versus Long Island all-time.

This year marks the second in a row the Patriot League's automatic qualifier has been sent to Amherst, Mass. A year ago Lehigh played at the UMass Softball Complex, posting a 2-2 record. In Colgate's previous two NCAA Tournament appearances it has played in Seattle, Wash. (1999) and Fresno, Calif. (2003).

Patriot League Notebook

Milestone Win
Colgate Head Coach Vickie Sax won her 250th career game against Lehigh in game three of the Patriot League Tournament and now has 251 wins to her credit in 10 seasons at the helm of the Raiders.

Tournament Most Valuable Player
Patriot League Tournament MVP honors went to Colgate senior pitcher Kelsey Nordstrom. Nordstrom won all three of the Raiders' games, going the distance in each. The First-Team All-Patriot League selection allowed just one run and six hits.

With nine strikeouts in Patriot League Tournament play, Nordstrom moved to eighth on the Patriot League career list (365).

Academic Awards
Bucknell's Erin Curatola (DP) and Lehigh's Kate Marvel (OF), Whitney Schenbeck (OF) and Lisa Sweeney (P) were all named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II Softball Team.

Gerheim's Got CLASS
Army's Lindsey Gerheim is a top-10 finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS award in the sport of softball. The Lowe's Senior CLASS Award is presented each year to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student Athlete of the Year. The acronym "CLASS" stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. Two other Patriot League spring student-athletes are up for the award as well - Bucknell's Ryan Gryskevicz (baseball) and Colgate's John Dunn (men's lacrosse).