The Lake Forest College softball team won 5-0 at Lawrence University on Saturday to claim the program's second straight Midwest Conference championship and the eighth league title in school history. The Foresters outscored their three MWC Tournament opponents by a combined score of 12-0.
A day after pitching a perfect game and adding a five-out save, junior right-hander Jessi Werner turned in another dominating performance in the circle. She matched her season and career-high with 13 strikeouts in the five-hit shutout and finished the weekend with 28 strikeouts without a walk in 15.2 innings of work. Werner is now 18-3 with a 2.01 earned run average on year and she increased her single-season school record for strikeouts to 177.
The Foresters were kept off the scoreboard until the top of the third inning when senior centerfielder Whitney Leiderman and junior catcher Alex Hemmer singled and came around to score on a double by junior first baseman Sally Snarski.
The visitors added single tallies in each of the next three innings. Sophomore designated player Jenny McTague led off the fourth with a triple and, three batters later, came home on a two-out single by freshman leftfielder Sydney Gardner. Hemmer reached on an infield single with one out in the fifth and came all the way around to score on Snarski's second double of the contest. Leiderman singled with two outs in the sixth, advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on a base hit by senior rightfielder Kayla Borgra.
Lawrence had a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh but Werner struck out the next three batters to secure the victory and the title.
The win improved Lake Forest's record on the season to 31-8 while Lawrence finished the year 28-12.
The 2015 All-MWC teams were announced on the field after the game and the Foresters were well-represented. Werner was named the league's Pitcher of the Year and was joined on the first team by junior third baseman Kaleigh Ambrose, Hemmer (utility), and at-large selections McTague and Snarski. Second Team selections included Borgra, Gardner, and freshman shortstop Kat Beall.
Along the the championship the Foresters earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The location and other teams of their four-team sub-regional tournament will be announced Monday morning on NCAA.com.
