The Lake Forest College softball team defeated College of St. Scholastica 9-6 before falling 4-3 in eight innings to Ohio Northern University on Thursday. It was the Foresters' fourth split in as many days of action during their Spring Break trip to Florida.
Lake Forest matched a season-high with 25 hits against St. Scholastica, including four by freshman third baseman Cadence Dempsey, who extended her hitting streak to nine games. She scored the first run of the day on a triple by sophomore second baseman Kelly Collins, who came home on a single by freshman Kyla Chevalier. Senior right fielder Elena Chrisman added an RBI-double and the Foresters led 3-0 after the first inning.
The Saints plated a pair of runs in the top of the third but Lake Forest responded with one in the bottom of the inning and four more in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by sophomore shortstop Kaylee Purgatorio and Dempsey brought home the first three runs of the rally and Dempsey came home with the fourth on a wild pitch. She also singled in a run in the fifth for her third run batted in of the contest.
St. Scholastica made things interesting by scoring four times in the top of the seventh but the Foresters held on for the victory and sophomore pitcher Hannah Smith improved to 3-1 on the season.
Lake Forest also scored first in the second game of the day when Purgatorio raced home on a groundout by Collins in the top of the first. The Polar Bears, however, took advantage of an error, hit-by-pitch, and wild pitch to score twice in the bottom of the frame.
The Foresters drew even on an RBI-single by sophomore first baseman Cheyenne Pellettiere in the fifth and took the lead in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Chrisman.
Meanwhile Lake Forest sophomore pitcher Ailee Perdeson had not allowed a hit through six innings of work. She also got the first two outs of the seventh before finally surrendering a single to the Ohio Northern pitcher. A wild pitch sent her to second and, with two strikes on the hitter, another single tied the game and sent it to extra innings.
The Foresters were unable to bring home Pellettiere, who started the eighth on second base, and the Polar Bears plated their runner on a one-out single to win the game.
Just one of the runs allowed by Pederson in the contest was earned. She struck out a pair of batters and did not issue a walk in the contest.
Pelletiere accounted for three of Lake Forest's 10 hits while Chevalier, junior catcher Angelle Bills, and freshman center fielder Emmie Nyen added two apiece.
The Foresters are now 6-5 on the season. St. Scholastica fell to 10-5 and Ohio Northern improved to 6-4.
Lake Forest will close out the trip against Franklin and Marshall College and Kalamazoo College on Saturday.
