The Lake Forest College softball team played three close games on Wednesday, defeating Emerson College 4-3 and Northland College 3-2 before falling 8-6 to Aurora University.
Junior right fielder Elena Chrisman had two of the Foresters' six base hits in their first game of the day, including a run-scoring triple to tie the score at one in the top of the fourth inning.
Lake Forest took the lead on freshman third baseman Caeli Kinsella's sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning and again on a fielders choice from senior center fielder Josie Klein in the sixth. Klein also stole second and scored what proved to be a valuable insurance run later in the frame.
The Lions closed to within a run in the bottom of the sixth but were unable to tied the game again.
Senior Carlie Mertz tossed a complete game for the Foresters and is now 2-0 on the season. She struck out three batters and scattered six hits and a pair of walks in the contest.
Mertz, who plays left field when she is not pitching, singled in the first run of game two in the bottom of the third inning. She then followed Klein home on a base hit by senior Hailey Boylan later in the inning.
Northland scored twice in the top of the fourth before Klein came on to pitch and get the last out of the inning. She finished out the game without allowing a run and earned the victory in her first appearance in the circle since 2019.
Chrisman turned in another two-hit performance against Aurora, doubling in a run in the third inning and leading off the seventh with her second triple of the day. The Foresters, who had surrendered four runs in the second, scored again in the third on a single by Mertz and tied the game in the fourth on a base hit by sophomore catcher Angelle Bills and a sacrifice play by freshman second baseman Kelly Collins.
Boylan belted her second home run of the season in the top of the fifth but the Spartans tied it with their third round-tripper of the game in the bottom of the frame. They added two more tallies in the inning and a sacrifice fly by Klein in the seventh was not enough for a Forester comeback.
Lake Forest is now 5-3 on the season and 3-3 at The Spring Game in Clermont, Florida. The team's next games will be on Friday against Messiah College (2:45 p.m. ET) and Lakeland University (5:00).