The Lake Forest College softball team posted an 8-0 five-inning victory over visiting Lawrence University and a 4-1 triumph against St. Norbert College on Friday, the first day of the 2014 Midwest Conference Championship Tournament. Forester pitchers Jessi Werner and Jenny McTague allowed just four base hits in the two games combined.
Werner, a sophomore, tossed her second straight one-hit shutout against Lawrence, striking out six batters and walking just one in the process. The Vikings only hit of the game was a single up the middle with two outs in the fifth inning. Werner is now 12-6 with a 2.09 earned run average on the year.
Lake Forest took the early lead on a two-out single by sophomore first baseman Sally Snarski. Freshman rightfielder Tara Airola, who had stole second base, scored on the play.
The Foresters broke the game open with five runs in the third. Junior centerfielder Kayla Borgra led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. After senior shortstop Sam Ritsema drew a walk, Snarski doubled in both runners to make the score 3-0. Sophomore catcher Alex Hemmer followed with a home run to center field. McTague scored the final run of the inning after reaching on an error, advancing to third on a double by sophomore second baseman Vasi Panos, and heading for home when the second baseman's throw to the infield got away.
Hemmer led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a base hit through the left side of the infield and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sophomore third baseman Kaleigh Ambrose also singled through the left side and, when the leftfielder misplayed the ball, Hemmer scored and Ambrose moved up to second base. McTague then lined a single past the shortstop to score Ambrose and end the game.
St. Norbert College had defeated Monmouth College 1-0 earlier in the day, setting up the Foresters' match-up with the Green Knights in the double-elimination tournament's winners' bracket. Monmouth came back to defeat Lawrence University 7-6 and advance to Saturday's play.
The Foresters also jumped out to a first-inning lead against St. Norbert in the event's fourth and final game of the day. Airola and Ritsema drew one-out walks and advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Snarski then lined a single just out of reach of the centerfielder to score both runners. Junior Alyssa Vechiola pinch-ran for Snarski and advanced to third on a single to right by Ambrose. She then scored on a base hit up the middle by McTague.
The Green Knights plated their only run of the game in the top of the third inning on a walk and a pair of singles. McTague escaped the jam with no further damage and allowed just two more baserunners the rest of the contest.
Hemmer belted her second home run of the day and eighth this season in the bottom of the fifth to close out the scoring. She finished with four base hits in the two games combined.
McTague struck out five batters and walked just one. She improved to 12-2 with a 1.11 ERA on the year.
Lake Forest is now 25-9 on the year, matching the 2003 and 2005 teams for the third-highest victory total in program history. With two losses on the day, Lawrence finished the season with a record of 18-12. Monmouth (21-17) will take on St. Norbert (17-16) Saturday morning at 10:00 with the winner advancing to the championship round against the Foresters. Lake Forest needs just one more victory to claim the program's seventh conference title while Monomuth or St. Norbert would need to defeat the tournament hosts twice to win the championship.
