The Forester softball team defeated Carroll University 7-2 and Ripon College 10-0 in six innings Friday on day one of the Midwest Conference Classic. Lake Forest junior rightfielder Kayla Borgra reached base safely in six of seven plate appearances on the day.
Borgra and sophomore Alex Hemmer each had two of the Foresters' seven base hits in the victory over Carroll. After doubling in the top of the first inning, Borgra also scored the first run of the contest on a groundout by sophomore first baseman Sally Snarski.
After the Pioneers plated a run in the bottom of the first, Lake Forest regained the lead with three runs in the second. A walk to sophomore third baseman Kaleigh Ambrose, a single by sophomore second baseman Vasi Panos, and a walk to junior centerfielder Whitney Leiderman loaded the bases with two outs. Borgra singled in Ambrose and Panos and Leiderman came home when the first baseman was unable to field a ground ball off the bat of senior shortstop Sam Ritsema.
Carroll scored a run in the bottom of the third inning and the Foresters once again responded with three in the fourth. After one-out singles by Hemmer and Leiderman, Borgra drew a walk to load the bases. Ritsema singled throught the left side of the infield to score one run and Leiderman raced home when the leftfielder misplayed the ball. The final run of the inning and game scored when freshman pitcher Jenny McTague drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk.
McTague struck out seven batters and surrendered just one earned run in the contest. Carroll had just four base hits in McTague's fourth complete game of the year. She is now 7-1 with a 1.31 earned run average on the season.
Lake Forest sophomore Jessi Werner tossed her second shutout of the year in the rout of Ripon. She allowed just five hits and struck out three batters while walking one. Werner is now 8-3 with a 2.04 ERA this season.
Neither team scored until the Foresters erupted for seven runs in the top of the fifth inning. Junior leftfielder Audrey Djukic began the rally with a one-out single and scored on Leiderman's second home run of the season. Borgra then doubled down the left field line to chase the Red Hawks' starting pitcher. Ritsema greeted the relief pitcher with an RBI-double and later scored on a double-steal. Hemmer singled in a pair of runs and freshman pinch runner Sam Rosenfeld came home with the frame's final tally when sophomore catcher Maddie Dieleman stayed in a rundown long enough between first and second base after tagging up on a popup to the catcher.
Ritsema belted her first home run of the season with a pair of runners on base in the top of the sixth inning to account for the final score. It was Ritsema's 14th career homer, tying her for sixth place in program history, one behind Leiderman.
The Foresters are now 16-4 overall and a perfect 8-0 in MWC play this year. Carroll fell to 2-16 overall and 0-1 in the league and Ripon is now 6-16 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
Lake Forest will be the home team against Beloit College at 11:00 a.m. and Lawrence University at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. The Foresters will finish play at the MWC Classic Sunday morning at 10:00 against St. Norbert College.
