The Lake Forest College softball team defeated continued its Spring Break trip to Florida with a 7-0 win over Marywood University in the opener of a doubleheader and a 12-2 five-inning victory in game two. Forester sophomore pitcher Jenny McTague turned in her second straight scoreless start in game one.
McTague allowed just a pair of base hits while striking out a season-high eight batters and walking three. She improved to 4-0 with a 1.11 earned run average on the year.
The Foresters took the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Senior centerfielder Whitney Leiderman led off the frame with a single, stole second, and scored on a base hit by senior rightfielder Kayla Borgra. Borgra later scored on a base hit by junior third baseman Kaleigh Ambrose.
McTague began another rally with a bloop double to lead off the fourth inning. Junior Alex Hemmer singled her in and a double by junior first baseman Sally Snarski plated two more runs.
Junior catcher Maddie Dieleman singled to lead off the fifth and senior leftfielder Audrey Djukic reached on an infield single two baters later. A bunt single by Leiderman scored Dieleman and a groundout by Borgra brought home Djukic with the final run of the game.
Leiderman had three base hits in the contest, including a triple, while Ambrose and junior second baseman Vasi Panos added two singles apiece.
Lake Forest also scored first in game two, plating a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. The first tally came home on an error and the second on a base hit by freshman shortstop Kat Beall.
A game-tying two-run double in the bottom of the third accounted for all of Marywood's scoring in the doubleheader.
The Foresters regained the lead in the top of the fourth. Freshman third baseman Jillian Rashid started what turned out to be a seven-run rally with a leadoff double and scored on a groundout by Panos. Freshman designated player Kristina Rosenbaum singled in a run, Borgra drove in two on a triple and scored on a base hit by Hemmer, and Snarski belted a two-run homer to make the score 9-2.
Freshman leftfielder Sydney Gardner singled in a run in the top of the fifth and freshman pinch-hitter Callie Schaser plated two more on a base hit later in the frame.
Beall finished the game with three singles while Snarski and Rosenbaum each had two hits.
Lake Forest junior pitcher Jessi Werner struck out 11 batters in the five-inning game and already has 40 strikeouts in 28.2 innings this season. Her seventh punchout of the game made her the program's career leader in that category, surpassing Nancy Findeisen's previous mark of 263, set in 2003.
The Foresters are still undefeated after eight games this season while Marywood remains winless after the same number of contests.
Lake Forest will close out its Spring Break trip Saturday morning against Trinity College (Connecticut) at 9:00 (EST) and Concordia University Wisconsin at 11:00. Both games will be played at Foundation Academy in Winter Garden, Florida.
