A big inning in each game helped the Lake Forest College softball team sweep a doubleheader against visiting Beloit College on Sunday. The Foresters took the opener 7-2 and game two 10-2 in five innings.
Junior Carlie Mertz and seniors Shaye Gauthier and Hannah Kalnicky combined for 13 of the home team's 20 hits in the two games combined. They were 6-for-10 with four runs batted in during the opener and 7-for-9 with five runs scored and five RBI in game two.
Mertz and senior Maddie Webb split the pitching duties with each allowing just one earned run. Webb struck out a career-high seven in as many innings in game one and, after surrendering a pair of first inning runs in game two, Mertz blanked the Buccaneers the rest of the way. They are now 5-1 and 6-1, respectively, on the season.
The Foresters scored five times in the second inning of the opener. Kalnicky doubled in the first run and then scored on a two-run single by junior catcher Kailey Boylan. An infield hit by junior center fielder Josie Klein brought home another run and she eventually scored on a double steal with Gauthier taking second.
Webb drove in a run on a fielders choice groundout in the third and Kalnicky singled in another in the fourth.
The big inning in game two was the third and Lake Forest plated six in the frame. Trailing 2-1 before the rally, the Foresters tied the score when Gauthier raced home on a wild pitch. Kalnicky put the home team on top with a two-run single and two more scored on back-to-back triples by Boylan and Klein. Another wild pitch allowed Klein to cross home plate and make the score 7-2.
Sophomore third baseman Melissa Manzo hit a sacrifice fly and a Kalnicky base hit drove in her fifth run of the day in the fourth. A single by Gauthier in the fifth plated Klein, giving the Foresters an eight-run lead and ending the game.
Lake Forest is now 19-5 overall this season and tied with St. Norbert College atop the Midwest Conference North Division standings at 10-2 in league play. Beloit fell to 15-11 overall and 6-8 in the conference.
The same two teams will face off in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.