By: The two regionally-ranked programs battled to a pair of 2-1 games, with each team coming out on top once.
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Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team went blow for blow with Lake Forest College on Saturday afternoon in an exciting Midwest Conference doubleheader. The two regionally-ranked foes traded goose eggs up on the scoreboard much of the way, and extra innings were needed in each contest. In the end, Illinois College downed the Foresters, 2-1, in eight innings in the first game. Lake Forest came back for a 2-1 win in nine innings to close out the day.
The split keeps Lake Forest in first place in the MWC at 19-9 (7-1 MWC), with IC close behind in third place at 15-9 (7-3 MWC).
Illinois College celebrates Senior Day tomorrow, taking on Beloit College at Jessica Kamp Field in a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 2, Lake Forest 1 (8 innings)
In a matchup of two aces,
Mariah Hedges got the better of Missy Dieckman-Meyer, scattering six hits across eight innings to earn the victory and improve to 9-3. The loss for Lake Forest's Dieckman-Meyer dropped her to 8-3.
Following a 1-2-3 inning by the Illinois College defense in the first inning, the offense came out firing as
Savanna Brady bashed a two-out single to right, scoring one batter later on a
Lea Hall double to the wall in center for a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the third inning, Lake Forest threatened with the bases loaded and only one away. Hedges got out of the jam by inducing a grounder back to her that she threw home for the force out. Hall quickly turned and threw the ball to first base to get Riley Frisbie for the inning-ending double play.
Lake Forest would eventually tie the game with a two-out RBI double by Maria Zepeda in the top of the fifth. The Foresters nearly took the lead in the top of the seventh, but Illinois College's defense again came up huge. A walk and an infield single put runners on first and third with two down in the frame when Lake Forest tried to take the lead on a double steal. After Hall threw the ball to
Elyce Trout at second, the senior shortstop quickly returned the ball home as Abby King broke towards the plate. The ball beat King easily and she tried to return to third, but
Mikayla Greenwood caught Hall's throw and applied the tag to get out of the inning.
After Zepeda led off the eighth with a double, Hedges again worked out of trouble, getting Frisbie to ground out for the first out, then striking out back-to-back hitters to end the inning. In the bottom half,
Hailey Lesser hit a one-out single but was still stuck on first with two down. Pinch-hitter
Katie Poe kept the inning alive with a two-strike single to left, ending Dieckman-Meyer's day. Relief pitcher Kyra Lenzie walked Brady to load the bases for Hall, and the senior took a pitch off the elbow, driving in Lesser from third for the walk-off win.
Game Two: Lake Forest 2, Illinois College 1 (9 innings)
Another pitcher's duel ensued in the second game between Shaye Gauthier and
Jess Feig, but this time the Foresters were able to escape with the win.
The contest was scoreless until the fifth inning, helped along by a pair of fantastic defensive plays by Illinois College. In the first inning, a 6-4-3 double play erased a lead-off walk from Zepeda. Greenwood ended the top of the fourth by snaring a ball over the lip of IC's dugout fence.
There was nothing the defense could do in the top of the fifth when Sydney Wyatt smacked a solo home run to left field to give the Foresters a 1-0 lead. The Lady Blues seemed to be out of it after going down in order in the fifth inning and then failing to score in the sixth after loading the bases with just one out.
The Lady Blues grabbed some momentum in the top of the seventh as
Jackie Reilly ended the frame by catching the second out in left field and gunning the ball home to
Marissa Knowles, who applied the tag on Erin Karasewski to keep Lake Forest from adding onto the lead.
Illinois College benefitted from a questionable decision from Zepeda in center field to start off the bottom of the seventh.
Shelby Koehler deposited an offering from Gauthier into shallow center and Zepeda tried to throw her out from the outfield. The throw went past the bag and hit the dugout, allowing Koehler to advance to second. With one out, Lesser tapped a slow roller towards first base and beat out the throw, while the ball trickled away from first base, Koehler alertly scampered home to tie the game at 1-1.
Relief pitcher Maddie Webb was able to get through the rest of the inning unscathed to push the game into extras. Both teams went down in order in the eighth inning, but Lake Forest took the lead in the ninth inning on a sac fly despite the fact that the Lady Blues turned two on the play.
In the bottom of the ninth, Illinois College moved
Sam Seggerman and Lesser into scoring position with two down, but Webb got
Maddy Morgan swinging to end the game.
