The Lake Forest College softball team won 7-6 in nine innings and 9-1 in five frames against Knox College at home on Sunday. Forester freshman outfielder Whitney Leiderman belted a walk-off home run in the opener and a leadoff homer in game two.
Leiderman and senior catcher Danielle Gore combined to go 5-for-9 with two doubles and a homer in game one and a perfect 4-for-4 with Leiderman's other round-tripper in the nightcap.
The Foresters fell behind early in the opener, surrendering four runs in the first inning. They got a run back in the bottom of the second when sophomore shortstop Sam Ritsema scored from third as freshman Jessica Tucker was caught stealing second.
Grinnell, however, extended the lead to 6-1 with single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings.
Lake Forest began the comeback in earnest with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Senior outfielder Leslie Harshey and Gore started the rally with singles and advanced to second and third on a groundout. Leiderman doubled in Harshey, Gore scored on a groundout by sophomore pinch-hitter Clare Kavanagh, and a base hit by junior first baseman Nikki Miller brought home Leiderman.
A two-out double by Gore in the bottom of the sixth pulled the Foresters to within a run and she hustled all the way home when the Pioneer second baseman misplayed a ground ball off the bat of junior third baseman Megan Harkins.
The next base hit of the game was Leiderman's blast over the fence in left center field with one out in the ninth.
The victory went to junior Molly Thomsen, who came on in relief in the top of the fifth inning. She allowed just one run on two base hits in five innings of work to even her record on the season at 6-6 and lowering her earned run average to 2.94.
Harshey was in the pitcher's circle in game two, making her first start at pitcher in nearly three seasons. She allowed just One unearned run on only three hits in her first career complete game. Harshey is now 2-0 on the season.
Leiderman cleared the fence again to lead off the bottom of the first inning. It was her fourth home run of the year and it started a streak of seven straight hits. Harkins doubled and Miller, sophomore center fielder Nora Logue, Ritsema, and Harshey followed with singles. Tucker completed the streak with her second home run of the season. After the home team finally made an out, Gore singled and came all the way around to score with Leiderman's second base hit of the inning got past the center fielder. It was the Foresters' highest-scoring inning of the season, surpassing their seven-run second at Elmhurst College on April 6.
Grinnell finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning but the home team regained its eight-run cushion in the bottom of the frame when junior third baseman Aubrey Pendegraft singled in freshman second baseman Amy Ziems with two outs.
Pendegraft also ended the game by taking the throw from sophomore left fielder Mindy Runge and firing home to cut down a Grinnell runner trying to score.
It was the second day in a row that Lake Forest needed extra innings to win the opener of a doubleheader and less than seven frames to take game two. The Foresters are now 14-13 overall this season and 4-0 in Midwest Conference play. Grinnell fell to 2-21 overall and 0-4 in the league.
Lake Forest will host North Central College at 3:00 Thursday afternoon.
