The Lake Forest College softball team prevailed 7-4 in game one before falling 3-2 and 2-0 in Saturday's Midwest Conference Championship Series at Illinois College.
The Foresters were considered the home team in the opener and scored the first two runs of the day on RBI doubles by sophomore third baseman Melissa Manzo and sophomore left fielder Brie Gauthier in the bottom of the first inning.
The Lady Blues plated a run in the top of the third and took the lead on a two-run homer in the fifth.
Lake Forest junior designated player Carlie Mertz belted a clutch two-out run-scoring double to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth.
Junior center fielder Josie Klein saw her 17-game hitting streak come to an end but drew two walks, including one to lead off the Foresters' four-run sixth. She went to third on a single by senior shortstop Hannah Kalnicky and scored on a Lady Blue fielding error on the next play. Senior catcher Nicole Schussler singled in another run and two more scored on a triple by Manzo.
Illinois College was able to get a couple of runners on base with one out in the seventh against Lake Forest's Maddie Webb but, after walking the first batter she faced to load the bases, Brie Gauthier retired the next two Lady Blues on a sacrifice fly and a groundout to secure the victory. Her first career save made a winner out of Webb, who improved to 8-1 with a 1.58 earned run average on the year.
The offenses continued to find success early in game two with the home team plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning and the Foresters answering with two in their half of the second. A bunt single by senior pitcher Shaye Gauthier brought home Lake Forest's first run and the second scored on another RBI double by Mertz.
Those tallies turned out to be the final runs of the day for the Foresters. Illinois College pulled back ahead with a run in the bottom of the fourth and held on for the game two victory.
The Lady Blues scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning in game three and added one in the sixth. Lake Forest out-hit Illinois College 6-5 in the final contest, including two by Mertz, but were unable to come up with any runs and fell 2-0.
Falling twice on Saturday dropped the Foresters record on the season to 25-8 while Illinois College will enter the NCAA Division III Tournament at 25-12.
Graduation at Lake Forest College will be on Tuesday and include Kalnicky, Schussler, Webb, Shaye Gauthier, Abby Ponder, and Erin Karasewski.
