A 2-0 loss to the University of St. Thomas in the championship round of the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament ended the Lake Forest College softball team's 2016 season on Sunday.
St. Thomas took the lead on a two-out RBI-double in the bottom of the first inning and plated an insurance run in the sixth.
Senior catcher Alex Hemmer had the Foresters' only base hit through six innings but Lake Forest put up a fight in the seventh. Senior first baseman Sally Snarski led off with a bloop single to right-center and sophomore shortstop Kat Beall followed with a base hit up the middle. Freshman centerfielder Maria Zepeda bunted the runners to second and third but the St. Thomas pitcher, who was later named the event's most outstanding player, struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.
Forester senior pitcher Jessi Werner allowed just four hits and struck out six batters in the contest. She also moved into first place in Midwest Conference history with 580 career strikeouts. Werner's 14-game winning streak was snapped but she finished the season 18-5 with a 2.27 earned run average.
Werner, Hemmer, and Zepeda were named to the Lake Forest, Illinois Regional All-Tournament Team after the championship game.
The Foresters finished the season with a 30-14 record and the third-most wins in program history. St. Thomas advances to next weekend's NCAA Super Regional with a mark of 41-6.
