The Lake Forest College softball team defeated visiting Ripon College 8-0 in five innings and 5-1 in seven on Saturday.
Forester pitchers allowed just one run on five base hits in the two games combined. Sophomore Hannah Smith started the opener and blanked the Red Hawks for the first three innings to improve to 8-3 on the season. Senior Kristen Calhoun finished off the shutout with to more scoreless frames. Freshman Kayla Collins went the distance in game two and is now 3-2 on the year. Ripon managed just two base hits in the contest.
Freshmen Kyla Chevalier and Cadence Dempsey each had three base hits on the day to pace the Lake Forest offense. Dempsey, the team's third baseman, also scored three runs while Chevalier increased her team-leading home run total this spring to five with a first inning blast in game two.
The home team scored an unearned run in the first inning of game one and seven in the third. The first two came home on RBI singles by Chevalier and junior first baseman Teagan Delarwelle and a bases loaded walk to sophomore second baseman Kelly Collins and a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Cheyenne Pellettiere made it a 5-0 game. Wild pitches plated two more and another sacrifice fly, this time by freshman center fielder Emmie Nyen, finished off the rally.
After Chavelier gave the Foresters the early lead in game two, they added to it in the third. With a runner on first, Dempsey hit a bloop single to left center and then raced for second on the throw that netted the Red Hawks an out at third. The third baseman's throw to second, however, ended up in right field and Dempsey scored easily.
After Ripon finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth, Lake Forest responded with two in the bottom of the frame. Freshman left fielder Brooke Swiecke drove in the first on a double down the left field line and she eventually scored from third two batters later on an errant throw from the catcher trying to catch Nyen stealing second.
Kelly Collins doubled in the final run of the doubleheader in the fifth.
Lake Forest improved to 16-11 overall and 6-4 in Midwest Conference play while Ripon fell to 8-18 overall and 2-6 in the league.
The Foresters will play a pair of non-conference games at the University of Chicago on Sunday. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 3:00 p.m.
