The Lake Forest College softball team scored a dramatic 3-2, 11-inning victory over visiting University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and had a 2-1 lead over North Central College when play was suspended due to lightning on Friday . The game will resume Saturday at 11:00 a.m. with the winner advancing to play Hope College in the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament championship round.
The game against Whitewater was scoreless until the top of the 10th inning when the Warhawks plated two on a home run.
Lake Forest senior leftfielder Audrey Djukic singled up the middle with one out in the bottom of the 10th. After a popout, the Foresters were down to their last strike when senior rightfielder Kayla Borgra doubled to the fence in right-center field. Whitewater was one strike away from the victory again when junior catcher Alex Hemmer singled over the shortstop and Borgra beat the throw from the centerfielder to the plate to tie the game.
The Warhawks threatened with a one-out double in the top of the 11th but the Foresters escaped when freshman shortstop Kat Beall caught a line drive and doubled the runner off second base to end the inning.
Beall then led off the bottom of the inning with a base hit the left field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior second baseman Vasi Panos. Junior Maddie Dieleman drew a walk and Djukic was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Senior centerfielder Whitney Leiderman followed with a high fly ball to medium left field and Beall beat the throw home with the winning run.
Junior pitcher Jessi Werner earned the victory after allowing two runs on just two base hits in four-and-two-thirds innings of work. She entered the game with two on and one out in the seventh and got out of the jam. Werner, who has already set several program records this season, tied another one with her 19th victory of the year against just three losses.
Sophomore pitcher Jenny McTague pitched the first six-and-a-third innings without allowing a run. She struck out five batters in the contest.
Lake Forest out-hit Whitewater 10-8 in the game with Hemmer, Djukic, and junior third baseman Kaleigh Ambrose recording two apiece.
After a short break, the Foresters were back out on the field against North Central. Werner returned to the circle and did not surrender a base hit during the first four innings. Back-to-back bunt singles by the Cardinals in the fifth inning chased Werner but McTague escaped without any damage on the scoreboard.
North Central finally plated the game's first run in the top of the sixth. A throwing error allowed the Cardinals' leadoff hitter to reach second base and she scored on a one-out single.
Lake Forest responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. Leiderman started the rally with a bunt single and advanced to second on a groundout. Hemmer walked and junior first baseman Sally Snarski followed with a base hit to right field. With the bases loaded and on out, Ambrose singled to left and, when the ball bounced away from the left fielder, Hemmer was able to score and give the Foresters the lead.
McTague walked the leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh but then struck out her third batter of the contest. The count was 2-2 on North Central's Kiersten Tinkoff when play was halted due to lightning in the area. The game was unable to be continued on Friday so the teams will pick up where they left off Saturday morning at 11:00.
The winner of the contest will advance to play Hope College at noon. Hope needs just one victory on Saturday to advance to next weekend's NCAA Division III Super Regional while the Foresters or Cardinals would need to defeat the Flying Dutch twice to claim the regional tourney title.
Regional Tournament Schedule/Results (times CST)
Thursday, May 7
Game 1: Hope 10, Wis.-Whitewater 7
Game 2: North Central 3, Lake Forest 2
Friday, May 8
Game 3: Hope 5, North Central 0
Game 4: Lake Forest 3, Wis.-Whitewater 2 (11 innings)
Game 5: Lake Forest leads North Central 2-1
Saturday, May 9
Continuation of Game 5, 11:00 a.m.
Game 6: Hope vs. Game 5 Winner, 12:00 p.m.
Game 7: Rematch of Game 6 (if necessary), 2:30 p.m.
Single-Session Ticket Prices
$6 - Adults
$3 - Students, Senior Citizens, Children Age 2-11
$0 - Children Under 2
