Behind home runs by sophomore Hannah Kalnicky, freshman Hailey Boylan, and senior Alyssa Grimm, Lake Forest defeated Beloit College 12-2 and 8-0 at home on Wednesday. Both games lasted just five innings.
The score was 4-2 in favor of the Foresters when Kalnicky broke open game one with a grand slam in the third inning. It was her first round-tripper and the team's first grand slam of the season. The home team was ahead 9-2 with two on and one out in the fifth when Boylan was called on to pinch hit. She ended the game by blasting the second pitch she saw over the fence in right-center for her first career homer.
Kalnicky, senior centerfielder Maria Zepeda, junior rightfielder Maddie Trost, and sophomore catcher Nicole Schussler each had two of the Foresters' 12 base hits in the game and Schussler finished with a career-high three runs scored.
Sophomore Shaye Gauthier was the Foresters' starting pitcher in the opener and surrendered a pair of runs in four innings of work to earn the victory. She was relieved by freshman Josie Klein, who pitched a scoreless fifth.
Sophomore Maddie Webb kept the visitors off the scoreboard throughout game two for her second career shutout. She also matched the Buccaneers' hit total with two of her own, including a run-scoring double in the fifth inning.
Trost turned in another two-hit game and scored the Foresters' first tally on a double by junior first baseman Riley Frisbie in the second inning. Gauthier's second single of the game drove in a run in the third and Grimm followed with her team-high fifth home run of the year to make the score 4-0. The home team finished off the contest with four in the fifth, two on a base hit by freshman Klein, another on Webb's double, and the last on a single by Zepeda.
Lake Forest improved to 16-14 overall and moved into first place in the Midwest Conference standings with a league record of 9-3. Beloit fell to 7-29 overall and 1-13 in the conference.
The Foresters will be in action again Thursday afternoon at Lawrence University with the first pitch of the doubleheader scheduled for 3:00 p.m.