All Rain, No Gain; Lake Forest Topples Lady Blues with Seventh Inning Comeback

Box Score
JANESVILLE, Wis. – A day that began with high hopes ended with disappointment for the Illinois College softball team on Saturday. The Lady Blues would have hosted the Midwest Conference Tournament with two wins, but those chances were ended with an 8-7 loss to Lake Forest College in the opening game of the day. Later on, IC was on top, 11-9, when the second game of the day was abandoned due to the constant rain and deteriorating field conditions.

Illinois College was the visiting team in the first game and went down in order to start the top of the first. Lake Forest took a quick lead with two runs in the bottom of the inning, helped along by an error from the IC defense. 

In what would be a sign of how the game would play out, Illinois College quickly responded. Katie Prizer singled for the first IC hit of the game and Marissa Knowles followed with a single into center field. With two on and two out, Elyce Trout doubled to right-center, tying the game up at 2-2.

Lake Forest would take the lead in the bottom of the third on a solo home run by Riley Frisbee. It was the first home run allowed by an IC pitcher since March 13 against Marietta College. 

In the top of the fifth inning, Shelby Koehler ripped a line drive down the third-base line and the ball ended up deep in the left-field corner. Lake Forest's Abby King slipped trying to retrieve the ball and Koehler kept running and running until she was safely home for an inside-the-park home run to tie the game at 3-3. The hits kept coming for IC from there, with Savanna Brady following up with a double and both Frankie Sikora and Prizer collecting singles. Prizer's single drove in Brady to give the Lady Blues a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Lake Forest tied the game again with a lead-off home run to center by Sydney Wyatt to make it 4-4.

In the seventh, Koehler reached with one out as the Lake Forest third baseman committed an error, her throw pulling the first baseman off the bag. Koehler and Brady then switched places as Brady reached on a fielder's choice and Koehler was erased at second. Now with two down, IC kept the inning alive with a Sikora single. Prizer then singled and moved to second as another error allowed two runs to score. Knowles followed that with a flare to right-center that tipped off the glove of Jillian Rashid to score Prizer. All told, IC had two hits and took advantage of three Lake Forest error to score three runs and take a 7-4 lead.

The three-run edge seemed safe until Mariah Hedges issued two lead-off walks to Forester hitters. After retiring King on a pop-up to shortstop, Rashid singled in a run and moved up to second on the throw. With the score 7-5, Hedges made way for Jess Feig to come on in relief. The first batter Feig faced doubled to center field and made it to third on an error. The next hitter, Wyatt, hit a tapper right in front of home plate. Knowles fielded and quickly tried to apply the tag on Alyssa Grimm, but Grimm's momentum knocked the ball out of Knowles' hands and scored the winning run for the Foresters.

Prizer and Trout had big days at the plate for the Lady Blues. Prizer was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Trout was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Hedges ended up with a no-decision, going 6.1 innings and giving up seven runs (six earned) with two striketouts.

St. Norbert was the beneficiary of IC's loss. With two wins over Grinnell, the Green Knights claimed the No. 1 seed and will host the MWC Tournament in De Pere, Wis. on May 5 and 6. Illinois College takes the No. 3 seed into the tournament and will play No. 2 Cornell College at 10 a.m. on May 5. The Lady Blues will play again later in the day on Friday, either in the winner's or loser's bracket depending on the outcome of the game against the Rams.

Before that, Illinois College has one last home doubleheader. The Lady Blues welcome in Illinois Wesleyan University for a non-conference tune-up on May 2 at 3 and 5 p.m.