The Lake Forest College softball team defeated Illinois College 2-1 and 15-9 on Thursday. Junior pitcher Kelly Chesnut struck out nine batters in the opener, which clinched the Foresters' spot atop the Midwest Conference South Division standings as well as their right to host this weekend's MWC Championship Tournament.
Chesnut's nine strikeouts matched her career high and she did not issue a walk in the contest. She now has 57 strikouts on the season and 133 in her career, the fifth-highest total in program history. She raised her record on the year to 5-4 and lowered her earned run average to 2.81.
The Foresters got on the scoreboard in their first inning of the day. Freshman outfielder Whitney Leiderman led off the game with a double, advanced to third on a groundout to the right side by freshman second baseman Alyssa Vechiola. She then came home on a sacrifice fly by junior first baseman Nikki Miller, who also had two of Lake Forest's five base hits in the contest.
A sacrifice fly also brought home the Foresters' other run of the game in the top of the third inning. Vechiola was hit by a pitch to start the frame and went all the way to third on a base hit by Miller. Logue then hit a fly ball to left field that was deep enough to score Vechiola to make the score 2-0.
The Lady Blues' only run of the contest was a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Illinois College had runners at the corners with two outs in the inning but Forester senior catcher Danielle Gore threw out the runner trying to steal second base to end the threat.
Chesnut retired the side in order in each of the final three innings to secure the victory.
One of the two teams scored in each inning of game two, beginning with the Foresters in each of the first three frames. Junior third baseman Aubrey Pendegraft belted her second home run of the year in the top of the first to give the Foresters the early lead again.
Sophomore outfielder Sammie Zender singled to lead off the second inning and advanced to second base and then third on a pair of groundouts. After Gore was hit by a pitch, Vechiola singled in Zender and sophomore right fiedler Clare Kavanagh followed with a two-run double.
Lake Forest plated three more runs in the third. Freshman designated player Kassie Marsala led off with a single and sophomore outfielder Judy Gilbert followed with a base hit of her own. Freshman Amy Ziems doubled in both of them with two outs and then scored on an error by the right fielder on a fly ball from Gore.
The Lady Blues needed a victory to earn a spot in the four-team conference tournament and they erased the 7-0 deficit even faster than the Foresters built it. Illinois College scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, two in the fifth to tie the score, and two more in the sixth to take a 9-7 lead.
The Foresters would not be denied the doubleheader sweep, however. They matched their most productive inning of the season by scoring eight times in the top of the seventh. After Marsala drew a leadoff walk, Gilbert belted her first career home run to tie the score at nine. Zender walked and freshman first baseman Kayla Borgra followed with her first career homer. Kavanagh singled in Vechiola with two outs and then scored on a double by Pendegraft. Marsala, who started the rally, finished it off with her first career home run and career-high fourth base hit of the contest.
Lake Forest senior Cami Daun pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh inning to earn the complete game victory. Six of the runs scored against her were unearned and she evened her record on the season at 3-3.
The Foresters are now 17-16 overall and completed their MWC schedule with a mark of 7-1. Illinois College finished the season 9-22 overall and 5-3 in the league. The Lady Blues' loss vaulted Monmouth College into second place in the MWC South Division and into the MWC Championship Tournament.
The double-elimination tourney begins with St. Norbert College taking on Monmouth at 10:00 Saturday morning. The Foresters and Carroll University will follow at noon. The round one losers are scheduled to face each other at 2:00 and the winners at 4:00. The 1-1 teams will begin Sunday's action at 10:00 a.m. and the winner of that game will need to defeat Saturday's 2-0 team twice to claim the league title.
