Lake Forest College Sports Information
April 17, 2003
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Four Home Runs Help Lake Forest Sweep Monmouth
Foresters seize control of MWC South
  

 Alissa Mildebrath belted a pair of home runs on Thursday.
LAKE FOREST, IL - The Forester softball team took a significant step in its quest to claim its third straight Midwest Conference South Division crown Thursday (April 17) with a doubleheader sweep of Monmouth College at home. Lake Forest won the first game 9-1 and took game two 6-0. The team is now 16-4 overall and has a 6-1 MWC record. Monmouth fell to 15-12-1 overall and 8-3 in the league.

The Foresters took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of game one. After junior pitcher Nancy Findeisen (Beecher, IL/ Beecher) walked and sophomore shortstop Tina Koludrovic (Darien, IL/Downers Grove South) singled with one out, sophomore second baseman Alissa Mildebrath (Carol Stream, IL/West Chicago) belted a three-run home run, the team's first of the year.

The home team blew the game open with four more runs in the second inning. Freshman designated player Melissa Wegner's (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) first career homer also scored sophomore center fielder Hannah Starck (Aurora, IL/Aurora West) with one out. Singles by Findeisen and Koludrovic and a Mildebrath walk loaded the bases for senior first baseman Shanon Joselane (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard East), who came through with a two-run double.

Monmouth scored its only run of the doubleheader in the fourth inning on a home run by Carrie Gerardi.

Three wild pitches allowed Lake Forest to score a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to end the game.

Findeisen struck out five and allowed seven base hits in the complete game victory. She is now 6-2 on the season with a 1.12 earned run average and leads the team with 34 strikeouts and 56 innings pitched. Mildebrath and Koludrovic finished the game with three base hits apiece.

Game two was scoreless until the top of the fifth when the Foresters scored one run on an RBI groundout by Mildebrath and another on a wild pitch. Lake Forest plated two more runs in the sixth on a pinch-hit home run by senior Megan Gibson (Brown Deer, WI/Brown Deer). Mildebrath led off the seventh with her second homer of the day and 10th of her career, tying the school record shared by senior Robyn Slater (Granite City, IL/Granite City) and 2002 graduate Jenn Reifenberg.

Leigh Anne Furgerson (Carmel, IN/Westfield) struck out two and allowed just three base hits in six scoreless innings to claim her fifth straight win. The junior is now 7-2 on the season with a 0.53 ERA.

The Foresters will try to capture their third doubleheader sweep at home in three days Friday (April 18) afternoon at 3:00 against Aurora University. Lake Forest won both games against the Spartans last season and split each of the previous two years.

Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2