By: The Foresters stormed to a pair of conference wins on Saturday, pounding out 26 hits on the afternoon.
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Box Score 2 JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team couldn't carry over its momentum from Thursday's win over No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan, falling twice to Lake Forest College in the team's Midwest Conference opener. The Foresters defeated the Lady Blues by scores of 15-3 and 7-0, improving to 13-3 (2-0 MWC) on the year. IC falls to 5-7 (0-2 MWC).
Illinois College goes back to non-conference play on March 30, playing Greenville College at 3 and 5 p.m. at Kamp Softball Field.
Game One: Lake Forest 15, Illinois College 3An eight-run second inning helped Lake Forest establish a 15-0 lead after three innings and come away with a 15-3 win in five innings in the day's first game.
The Foresters took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on starter
Leah Shumaker, then continued to build their advantage in the second inning on Shumaker and reliever
DJ Troli.
Lanie Thompson finally got the Lady Blues out of the inning, but Lake Forest added five more runs in the third to end IC's hopes.
The Lady Blues were able to score two runs in the fourth inning on Lake Forest starter Jessi Werner.
Brittany Fanella led off with a single and she moved up on a
Hannah Knapper single.
Samantha Hereley then doubled to left field to score them both. In the fifth,
Elyce Trout pinch-hit and doubled to center before scoring on a double from
Sierra McDonald for the third IC run. The rally fizzled after that though, and the game ended early with the Lady Blues trailing by 12 runs after the fifth.
Betsy Wagers and Troli each added a hit in the game for Illinois College. Shumaker fell to 0-3 on the season with the loss.
Game Two: Lake Forest 7, Illinois College 0Illinois College put up a more spirited effort in the second game, but fell behind by the middle innings and couldn't get anything going against Lake Forest starting pitcher Jenny McTague, who gave up only two hits in the game.
Amanda Price went the distance for the Lady Blues, but took the loss to move to 4-2 on the season.
The second inning presented a golden opportunity for Illinois College to get its first lead of the day, but with Wagers and
Emily Hawkins both in scoring position, McTague was able to escape the inning without giving up a run.
Price made it through the second inning and had two down in the third when Alex Hemmer tripled to center field. Sally Snarski followed with a RBI single to give the Foresters a 1-0 lead. It was a similar scenario in the fourth inning for Lake Forest. Price retired the first two batters of the inning but walked Maddie Dieleman to keep the inning alive. From there, the Foresters strung together three straight singles, including a two RBI single from Kayla Borgra for a 3-0 advantage.
In the fifth inning, Lake Forest expanded on its lead with a two-run homer from Kaleigh Ambrose as part of a four-run inning to take a 7-0 lead. Illinois College couldn't get anything going after that, reaching only on an error in the seventh.
Wagers and Hawkins had the two hits in the game for the Lady Blues.
