The Forester softball team is 2-2 on the season after falling 6-1 to Marietta College and defeating Endicott College 4-3 on Tuesday. Lake Forest junior third baseman Aubrey Pendegraft singled in the second game's winning run in the top of the seventh inning.
Pendegraft, the 2011 Midwest Conference South Division Co-Player of the Year, was making her season debut after returning from injury and was 2-for-4 with a run scored in the contest. Freshman right fielder Jessica Tucker and freshman catcher Whitney Leiderman also had two base hits apiece in the contest.
Endicott struck first with a run in the bottom of the second inning. It was the only earned run allowed by junior pitcher Molly Thomsen, who allowed just six base hits in 5.2 innings of work. She also matched her career-high with five strikeouts for the second day in a row.
The Foresters pulled ahead with two runs in the top of the fourth. Freshman Kassie Marsala started the rally with a leadoff double and Pendegraft followed with a single up the middle. Three batters later, Leiderman singled through the left side to drive in both runners.
Lake Forest tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth. Leiderman doubled with two outs and came home on a triple by sophomore Nora Logue.
Endicott tied the score on an error with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, negating Thomsen's chance for her second victory of the year.
Tucker singled with one out in the seventh. After a fielder's choice, freshman Alyssa Vechiola pinch ran and advanced to second on a wild pitch. That set the stage for Pendegraft, who singled up the middle again to score Vechiola.
Junior pitcher Kelly Chesnut, who has appeared in each of the Foresters' four games this season, got the last out of the sixth inning and worked around her own error in the seventh to earn the victory.
Marsala had two of the team's three base hits in the loss to Marietta earlier in the day. She leads Lake Forest with a .462 (6-for-13) batting average and three doubles. Junior first baseman Nikki Miller had the other hit and is next on the squad at .364 (4-for-11).
Senior catcher Danielle Gore scored the Foresters' only run of the game on a throwing error in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Marietta raised its record on the season to 4-1 and Endicott fell for the first time in five games.
Lake Forest will be off on Wednesday before taking on Wheaton College (Mass.) at 1:00 (EST) and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls at 3:00 Thursday afternoon.
