Lake Forest College Sports Information
April 22, 2002
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Sweep University of Chicago, Match School Record for Wins
Findeisen throws sixth complete game shutout, Koludrovic hits first home run
  

 Tina Koludrovic hit her first career home run in game one but her 13-game hitting streak ended in the second game.
CHICAGO, IL - With a pair of victories at the University of Chicago Monday (April 22nd), the Lake Forest College softball team tied its school record for wins in a season with at least six games still on the schedule. The 18-9 Foresters won the first game of the doubleheader, 4-0, and recorded a come-from-behind 5-4 triumph in game two of the twinbill.

Pitching has probably been the main reason for the team's success in 2002, and that was no different in Monday's opener. Nancy Findeisen (Beecher, IL/ Beecher) held the Maroons to just four hits en route to her sixth complete game shutout of the season. The sophomore also struck out eight batters without yielding a single walk. She is now 8-5 and her earned run average of 0.90 is exactly half the existing school record.

Lake Forest did not wait long to score as Tina Koludrovic (Darien, IL/Downers Grove South) hit a two-run home run with one out in the top of the first inning. The freshman shortstop's first career homer also extended her hitting streak to 13 games and her third inning single gave her two of the team's seven hits.

The other two Forester runs scored when a single and error plated a pair of pinch runners in the sixth.

In game two, Chicago jumped out to an early three-run lead with an RBI groundout and a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman second baseman Alissa Mildebrath (Carol Stream, IL/West Chicago) put the Foresters on the scoreboard with her team-leading and school record-tying fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the top of the third. However, the Maroons regained the three-run advantage with one in the fifth.

Of Lake Forest's ten hits in the game, five (two singles and three doubles) came in the top of the sixth when the visitors scored four times. Senior catcher Jenn Reifenberg (Skokie, IL/Niles West) led off the inning with her school record tenth double of the season. Also doubling in the frame were senior outfielders Chris Laurine (Richmond, IL/Richmond-Burton), who had two in the game and was 3-for-3, and Kristin Brand (McHenry, IL/McHenry West), who went 3-for-6 in the two games combined.

The only downside to the sixth inning was its final out, a grounder to the shortstop off the bat of Koludrovic, ending her hitting streak at 13 games. A streak that did continue was sophomore pitcher Leigh Anne Furgerson's (Carmel, IN/Westfield) string of victories, which reached seven.

Furgerson will try to make it eight in a row on Thursday (April 25th) when the Foresters host Benedictine University (3:00 PM), the nation's 12th-ranked team (USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association). This weekend (April 27-28th), Lake Forest will put its 7-2 Midwest Conference record on the line at home against Grinnell College on Saturday and Knox College on Sunday.

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score