College Update: Stone Bridge Grad Kayla Lechler's Walk-Off Blast Gives Columbia 6-5 Win Over Princeton, Caps Booming Week for Sophomore Slugger

(Apr. 21, 2010) - Former Stone Bridge High School standout and current Columbia University sophomore Kayla Lechler, fresh off hitting her first career home run earlier in the week against Fairleigh Dickinson, cracked a game-tying solo home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh to send the first game of a scheduled doubleheader with Princeton on April 17 to extra innings.

And after the Tigers had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth, Lechler came through again with a walk-off two-run homer to give the Columbia University softball team a thrilling 6-5 victory at Columbia Softball Stadium.

The two home runs capped a 4-for-5 day for the Ashburn, Va. native, who drove in three runs and scored two more.

Trailing by a run and with a runner on in the ninth, Lechler drilled her third career home run over the left-field fence. All of Lechler's home runs in her career have come in a four day span.

A one-out walk in the seventh set up Lechler's heroics.

Lechler continued her hot hitting the next day with a pair of doubles and three hits in another doubleheader.

In earlier in the week, Lechler belted the first home run of her career, a grand slam in the top of the fourth inning to cap an eight-run frame that led Columbia to a 12-8 win in the first game of a doubleheader with Fairleigh Dickinson.

Lechler leads the Lions in hitting this season with a .347 average in 35 starts. She has scored 26 runs with 22 RBIs. Lechler's slugging percentage is .492. She is an astro physics major at Columbia.

Above photo courtesy: Columbia University Athletics/Gene Boyars