BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh first-year Peyton Sward has been named the Patriot League's Rookie of the Week, the league announced Tuesday. Sward enjoyed an outstanding start to her Lehigh career this past weekend, helping the Mountain Hawks to a season-opening 2-2 showing at Texas A&M's Aggie Classic.
 
Sward started all four games for the Mountain Hawks at shortstop, going 8-for-9 at the plate for an .889 batting average. She added a double, a triple, an RBI, a stolen base and three runs scored.
 
The Florham Park, N.J. native hit safely in all four games. Sward had Lehigh's first hit of the season in a 2-for-2 showing against Tulsa on Friday. She later added a game-tying RBI single and eventually came around to score the run that put Lehigh up 4-2 on No. 24 Texas A&M before the Aggies rallied to win.
 
On Saturday, Sward went 5-for-5 with two extra base hits and a stolen base as the Mountain Hawks swept a doubleheader from Valpo, outscoring the Beacons 18-0 over the two games.
 
Sward and the Mountain Hawks will be back in action this weekend with five games at the Weiler Orthodontics Invitational, hosted by James Madison, Friday-Sunday in Harrisonburg, Va. Lehigh will open the tournament with games against James Madison (1:30 p.m.) and George Mason (4 p.m.) on Friday.
 
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