After a weather delay of nearly two hours, the Forester softball team prevailed 2-0 and 6-1 at Grinnell College on Saturday. Lake Forest junior pitcher Jessi Werner tossed a shutout in the opener and moved into sole possession of second place in program history with 39 career victories.
Werner scattered seven base hits and struck out six batters without issuing a walk in game one. Her fourth shutout of the year and 11th of her career improved her record on the season to 16-1 and earned run average to 2.02.
The game was scoreles until the top of the fifth inning. Junior second baseman Vasi Panos led off the frame with a double, advanced to third on a groundout, and eventually scored on a bases-loaded, two-out walk to junior catcher Alex Hemmer.
Lake Forest added an insurance run in the seventh. Senior centerfielder Whitney Leiderman tripled and came home on another three-base hit by Hemmer.
The Pioneers brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh by Werner struck out the next batter looking to end the game.
Forester sophomore pitcher Jenny McTague accounted for the visitors' first run of game two on an inside-the-park home run to lead off the top of the second inning.
Lake Forest added two more runs in the third. Leiderman led off with her second triple of the day and scored on a single by senior rightfielder Kayla Borgra. Hemmer followed with a base hit and junior first baseman Sally Snarski singled in Borgra to make the score 3-0.
Hemmer drove in her third run of the day on a single in the fourth inning and junior catcher Maddie Dieleman tripled in McTague in the fifth, giving the Foresters a 5-0 advantage. McTague reached on a fielder's choice and then scored her third run of the game on a double by Panos in the seventh.
McTague allowed just five base hits in the contest and the only run she surrendered was unearned and came home with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. She then recorded her fifth and final strikeout of the game before fielding a comebacker and throwing to first for the final out of the contest. She is now 11-4 with a 1.69 ERA.
The Foresters raised their overall record to 27-5 and Midwest Conference mark to 12-1. Grinnell fell to 6-25 overall and 5-8 in the league.
Lake Forest needs to win one of two games at Cornell College on Sunday to clinch first place in the MWC South Division standings for the fourth season in a row. The doubleheader will begin at 1:00 p.m.
