The Lake Forest College softball team traveled to Ripon College on Saturday and returned home with a pair of victories, taking the opener 2-1 and game two 7-3.
Forester senior catcher Nicole Schussler was the offensive star of game one. Her two-run double with two outs in the top of the seventh inning turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
That was enough scoring for Lake Forest senior pitcher Maddie Webb, who limited the Red Hawks to one run on seven base hits. She struck out three batters and walked one in the complete game victory.
Game two was much less stressful for the Foresters, who took the lead in the top of the third inning when sophomore rightfielder Elena Chrisman belted the team's first home run of the season. Sophomore third baseman Melissa Manzo singled in a run in the fourth and then came home with junior designated player Hailey Boylan on a triple off the bat of sophomore leftfielder Brie Gauthier. The visitors then increased their lead to 5-0 in the top of the sixth when Manzo tripled and Gauthier singled her in.
After Ripon scored once in the bottom of the sixth, Lake Forest tacked on two more runs in the seventh on Manzo's third hit and second triple of the afternoon. She is the second Forester this season and fifth in program history to triple twice in a game.
The Red Hawks plated two more runs in the bottom of the seventh but were unable to come back against Forester senior pitcher Shaye Gauthier, who evened her record on the season at 2-2.
Lake Forest is now 5-3 on the season while Ripon fell to 2-14. The game did not count toward either team's Midwest Conference record.
The Foresters will host St. Norbert College in another non-conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
