The Lake Forest College softball team used stellar pitching and a pair of four-run innings on Friday to post a 4-1 victory over St. Norbert College and a 5-0 shutout of Ripon College. Freshman Alex Hemmer's first career home run helped the Foresters cap off a perfect opening day of the MWC Classic.
All the runs in Lake Forest's first game of the day were scored in the first inning. After a pair of St. Norbert base hits plated a run in the top of the frame, the Foresters responded with four in their half. The rally began with singles by sophomore outfielders Whitney Leiderman and Kayla Borgra. After a sacrifice bunt moved up the runners, freshman designated player Kristi Gandy singled in Leiderman to tie the score. Freshman second baseman Kaleigh Ambrose followed with a home run, her second of the year, to break the game open.
Borgra had two of Lake Forest's seven hits in the game. The home run by Ambrose was the only extra base hit for either team.
Forester freshman pitcher Jessi Werner held the Green Knights scoreless the rest of the way for her third consecutive victory. She allowed six base hits while striking out four batters and walking two. She is now 3-0 with a 0.82 earned run average during MWC play.
Gandy also gave Lake Forest a stellar pitching performance against Ripon. She scattered six base hits and did not issue a walk in her first career shutout. Gandy also had a pair of singles in the contest.
Ripon's pitcher also had a shutout going until the bottom of the fourth inning. Ambrose led off with a single, senior first baseman Nikki Miller drew a one-out walk, and Hemmer singled to load the bases. A wild pitch brought home the first run and Hemmer's homer quickly made the score 4-0.
Another wild pitch scored freshman outfielder Tori Liewergen in the bottom of the sixth with the only other run of the game.
Illinois College and Carroll University were the only other teams in the league to win twice on Friday. The Foresters will face Lawrence University at 11:00 a.m. and Carroll at 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday. They will close out the weekend with a 10:00 a.m. game against Beloit College on Sunday.