The Lake Forest College softball team was defeated 3-2 by Beloit College on Sunday in the Foresters' fifth and final game of the Midwest Conference Classic. Lake Forest was 3-2 on the weekend.
Eight of the Foresters' nine starters had at least one base hit and Lake Forest out-hit Beloit 9-5.
The Buccaneers, however, took the lead on a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning.
The Foresters evened the score in the top of the fourth. Junior shortstop Sam Ritsema started the inning with a single and stole second base. Ritsema advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a base hit by freshman second baseman Kaleigh Ambrose. A single by senior third baseman Aubrey Pendegraft sent Ambrose to second and she scored on a base hit by freshman Alex Hemmer.
A leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth inning came back to haunt the Foresters. The runner advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored what proved to be the winning run on a two-out single.
Freshman pitcher Kristi Gandy started the game and surrendered a pair of unearned runs in four-and-a-third innings of work. She allowed just four base hits and struck out two batters without issuing a walk. Fellow freshman Jessi Werner struck out three batters in the final five outs. The only hit against her scored the winning run and dropped her record to 4-1 in MWC play.
Lake Forest is now 12-11 overall this season and 7-2 in conference games. Beloit is 4-23 overall and 2-5 in the league.
The Foresters will conitinue MWC play with a pair of doubleheaders at home next weekend. They will host Monmouth College at 1:00 Saturday afternoon and Illinois College at the same time on Sunday.
