The Lake Forest College softball team defeated host Monmouth College 9-7 on Sunday in the opener of a scheduled doubleheader. Game two was postponed by rain. Forester sophomore center fielder Nora Logue had a two-run double in the first inning and belted a tie-breaking home run in the seventh.
Logue's double scored freshman second baseman Alyssa Vechiola and junior first baseman Nikki Miller and gave the visitors an early 2-0 advantage.
Monmouth plated a run in the bottom of the first innings and rallied for five in the third.
Trailing 6-2, the Foresters responded with five runs of their own in the top of the fourth. Sophomore shortstop Sam Ritsema led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a base hit by freshman right fielder Jessica Tucker, and scored when the Fighting Scot third baseman threw wildly on a sacrifice bunt by senior catcher Danielle Gore. Senior Leslie Harshey, who took over at pitcher in the previous half-inning, singled in Tucker with one out and freshman left fielder Whitney Leiderman belted a three-run homer to finish off the rally. It was Leiderman's fifth home run of the season and fourth in the last six games.
Harshey retired the home team in order in the bottom of the fourth and, despite the first two batter reaching, escaped with a scoreless fifth inning as well. Monmouth finally tied the score on a wild pitch in the sixth.
Logue came to the plate with one out in the top of the seventh and cleared the left center field fence for her fourth round-tripper of the season. Ritsema follwed with a walk and sophomore pinch-runner Judy Gilbert eventually scored an insurance run on a Monmouth error.
Harshey pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the victory. She allowed just one base hit and struck out three batters while walking just one in four-and-a-third innings of work. She is now 3-0 on the season.
The nightcap was postponed due to rain and will only be made up if the contest matters in the conference standings.
Lake Forest is now 15-15 overall this season and still undefeated after five Midwest Conference games. Monmouth fell to 16-16 overall and 5-2 in the league.
The Foresters are tentatively scheduled to face Illinois College Tuesday at a time and location to be determined.
