Junior shortstop Kat Beall belted her first home run of the year and drove in four as the Lake Forest College softball team defeated the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 13-2 in six innings on Friday. The Foresters were defeated 2-0 by Hope College later in the day.
Beall cleared the centerfield fence with a runner on base in the top of the fifth inning to give her team a 7-2 lead over Oshkosh. She also singled in a pair of runs and later scored in the Foresters' six-run sixth.
Lake Forest had taken the early lead on a two-run double by freshman third baseman Haylee Sherlund in the top of the second inning. Sherlund then scored on one of three hits in the game from senior rightfielder Sam Rosenfeld.
The Titans answered the Foresters' three runs with two of their own in the bottom of the second. They turned out to be the only run allowed by freshman Missy Dieckman-Meyer, who allowed just three hits while striking out and walking four apiece in the game. She improved to 3-2 on the season.
Freshman first baseman Riley Frisbee drove in a pair of runs, one on a bunt single prior to Beall's homer in the fifth and the other by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth. Sophomore leftfielder Abby King finished off the sixth-inning rally with her team-high third home run of the year. Three of King's first four career hits have landed on the other side of the fence.
After pounding out a season-high 11 base hits against Oshkosh, the Foresters were held to a season-low two by Hope. The first was a single by Beall in the bottom of the first that raised her team-high batting average to .407. The second was a single that loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Hope escaped the jam and held on for the victory.
Lake Forest senior pitcher Jenny McTague allowed just five hit and one earned run in the contest, lowering her earned run average to 1.79.
The Foresters are now 4-6 on the year. Oshkosh fell to 6-2 and it was the season opener for Hope.
Lake Forest will close out play at The Spring Games in Leesburg, Florida, on Saturday with games against Carthage College (9:00 a.m. ET) and Linfield College (2:00 p.m. ET), the eighth-ranked team in the nation.
