Sophomore pitcher Missy Dieckman-Meyer tossed her second shutout of the young season on Monday as the Lake Forest College softball team began its Spring Break trip with a 2-0 victory over University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Monday. The Foresters then fell 7-5 to Concordia University Wisconsin.
Dieckman-Meyer struck out seven batters without issuing a base on balls and each of the five base hits against her was a single. She did not allow a baserunner until the fourth inning and the only one to reach third base until the seventh inning, when the Corsairs had two runners in scoring position with no outs. Dieckman-Meyer struck out the next two hitters before catching a popup to end the game. She improved to 3-0 with a 0.39 earned run average in three starts this season.
Both of the Foresters runs were scored in the third inning, which began with a base hit up the middle by junior centerfielder Maria Zepeda. A passed ball advanced Zepeda to second and she scored on an error by the centerfielder. Freshman designated player Nicole Schussler drew a bases-loaded walk later in the frame to bring home junior rightfielder Abby King with the second tally.
Lake Forest matched UMass-Dartmouth with five hits in the game, including a single and double by freshman second baseman Hannah Kalnicky. Senior shortstop Kat Beall also doubled in the contest.
The Foresters were out-hit 11-7 by Concordia Wisconsin in their second game of the day and sophomore first baseman Riley Frisbie was the only player on the team with two.
After the Falcons started the contest with four runs in the top of the first inning, Lake Forest responded with a four-run rally of its own in the second. Concordia Wisconsin errors brought home the first two scores and a single by sophomore catcher Sydney Wyatt plated two more to tie the game.
The Falcons regained the lead with a run in the fourth and added a pair of important insurance runs in the fifth.
Lake Forest junior designated player Diamond Owens led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and junior third baseman Alyssa Grimm followed with a run-scoring double. The Foresters brought the tying run to the plate four times in the final two innings but were unable to get any closer.
The split on day one in Florida left Lake Forest 4-2 on the season. Umass-Dartmouth fell to 4-2 while Concordia Wisconsin improved to 6-4.
The Foresters will be back in action Tuesday morning at 8:00 against Delaware Valley University and Lake Forest will also take on St. Mary's College (Ind.) at 2:00 p.m.