Senior second baseman Vasi Panos belted the Lake Forest College softball team's first home run of the season during a 10-6 victory over Methodist University to close out pool play at the NFCA Division III Classic on Saturday. The Foresters then fell 8-3 to #3 Christopher Newport University in the opening round of bracket play.
Panos hit an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence with two outs in the bottom of the second inning to give the Foresters the early lead. A two-out, two-run single by sophomore shortstop Kat Beall in the third made the score 3-0. Panos doubled and then later scored on a base hit by junior outfielder Tara Airola in the fourth as Lake Forest built a 5-0 lead.
Methodist finally got on the scoreboard with two outs in the top of the fifth and came away with six runs in the frame.
Panos recorded her third hit of the game and the Foresters regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Airola drove in one run on a sacrifice fly and freshman third baseman Alyssa Grimm singled in a run to put Lake Forest ahead for good.
Panos added to her big game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth. Junior pitcher Jenny McTague also plated a run in the inning on a groundout and Grimm singled in one more to close out the scoring.
Senior pitcher Jessi Werner also had a big game and earned the victory for the third game in a row. She allowed just two singles while striking out eight batters during the first four innings. After giving way to a reliever to begin the fifth, she re-entered in the circle to get the final out of the frame and retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh. Werner finished with 10 strikeouts in the contest and has now reached double figures in that category 14 times in her career.
Methodist fell to 3-10 on the season as the Foresters finished off a sweep of their three pool play games. Lake Forest earned the #5 seed in the event's Gold Championship Bracket and took on Christopher Newport University, the nation's third-ranked team, in the first round Saturday evening.
Freshman outfielder Maria Zepeda led off Saturday's second contest with a bunt single and scored on a two-out double by senior catcher Alex Hemmer.
The Foresters' lead was short-lived, however, and Christopher Newport scored six times on seven singles in the bottom of the first.
Beall doubled in sophomore outfielder Sydney Gardner and later scored on a wild pitch in the third, cutting the Captains' lead to 6-3.
Christopher Newport added single tallies in the third and fourth to close out the scoring.
Werner came in to get the final two outs of the fourth inning and allowed just two singles while striking out three in two-and-two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
The loss dropped the Foresters record on the season to 3-5. They will take on Berry College Sunday morning at 9:00 (EST) with the winner advancing to the Gold Bracket's consolation final against either Virginia Wesleyan University or Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges at 1:00 p.m.
