The Forester softball team dropped the opener 5-3 before taking game two 12-7 in eight innings Sunday afternoon at Lawrence University.
Sophomore left fielder Brie Gauthier and senior designated player Maddie Webb each accounted for three of Lake Forest's 10 base hits in game one and Gauthier's single in the opening inning drove in the first run of the contest.
The Vikings plated a pair of runs in the fourth inning and added three in the fifth. The score remained 5-1 until a run-scoring double by sophomore third baseman Melissa Manzo and an RBI fielder's choice groundout by junior pitcher Carlie Mertz in the seventh cut the deficit in half. The visitors were unable to complete the comeback, however, leaving a pair of runners on base in the final inning and eight in the game.
Ten Foresters contributed to the team's season-high 20 base hits in the second game and that total ranks seventh in program history. Six players on the team recorded at least two hits, Mertz and junior center fielder Josie Klein had three, and senior second baseman Shaye Gauthier turned in her third four-hit game of the season.
Lake Forest took the early lead again on a run-scoring single by Shaye Gauthier in the second inning but Lawrence rallied for three in the third.
Klein belted her team-high fifth home run of 2021 with a runner on in the fourth to tie the score and Mertz hit her first as a Forester an inning later to put the visitors on top 5-3.
Mertz tripled in a run and scored on a single by Manzo in the top of the sixth to make the score 7-4. It was the team's program record-tying 21st three-bagger of the year. The home team responded with three in the bottom of the frame, however, and the score remained 7-7 when neither team plated a run in the seventh.
Mertz led off the eighth with a single and sophomore right fielder Elena Chrisman followed with a double. An RBI-groundout by Manzo and sacrifice fly by Webb gave the Forester a two-run lead but they were not done. Brie Gauthier restarted the rally with her fifth base hit of the doubleheader and, after stealing second and advancing to third on an error, came home on a single by freshman center fielder Melena Stemmler. Klein doubled in Stemmler and scored on a Shaye Gauthier single to make the score 12-7.
A double play lineout in the bottom of the seventh helped Lake Forest avoid another Lawrence comeback and made a winner out of Brie Gauthier, who struck out six batters in the final five-and-a-third innings of the game and improved to 3-0 on the year.
The split left Lake Forest with an overall record of 24-6 and the Foresters finished atop the Midwest Conference North Division standings with a 13-3 league record. Lawrence completed the 2021 season 7-17 overall and 6-10 in the MWC.
Lake Forest will represent the division in Saturday's MWC Championship series, which will be hosted by the top team from the South.