Lehigh softball team headed to Oklahoma; Moravian finished third at regional

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER The Lehigh softball team, fresh off another Patriot League, found out on Sunday night that it is headed to No. 4 ranked Oklahoma for its NCAA Regional beginning Friday night. The Mountain hawks will play the Sooners (45-8) at 8:30 Eastern time on Friday. Oregon State and Tulsa are the other teams in the regional. This is not unchartered territory for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks went 1-2 in the 2001 Norman Regional. The Mountain Hawks led the defending national champion Sooners early before Oklahoma rallied for a 9-2 win. “It’s a place that we know,” said Lehigh coach Fran Troyan. “Oklahoma is a very strong team. They hit it well. They play great defense and (Keilani) Rickets is a tremendous pitcher. We knew we were going to have our hands full, but we’ll go out there and see what we can do.” The Mountain Hawks earned the Patriot League’s automatic bid into the field of 64 after winning their 12th league tournament championship. Lehigh (40-17) became the first Patriot League softball team to not allow a run in the league tournament after posting a 2-0 win over Lafayette and 4-0 and 2-0 wins over Army to clinch the program’s eighth NCAA tournament berth. Much earlier on Sunday, Moravian had its season end with a 3-1 loss to Rowan in the NCAA Division III regional at Union, N.J. Rowan went on to lose the championship game to No. 1 seed Montclair State, 1-0. Moravian completed its 2012 season with a 35-11 overall record and made its 14th appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament in the last 15 years. The Greyhounds also captured their fifth straight Landmark Conference title and 13th consecutive conference championship this spring. Moravian's senior pitcher Jenna Carmon and sophomore catcher Cassie Ernst were named to the 2012 NCAA Division III Union, N.J. Regional All-Tournament Team.