Lake Forest College Sports Information
April 27, 2006
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Split at Carthage, Watts and Closson Set School Records
Team falls 4-3 in opener, wins 4-0 in game two 
  

Erin Watts has driven in 69 runs over the last two years.

The Foresters took the early lead in the top of game one’s first inning. Freshman Anna Risi (Highland Park, IL/Highland Park) walked with one out, advanced to third on a single up the middle by junior Erin Watts (Evergreen Park, IL/Evergreen Park), and scored on a wild pitch.

Carthage tied the score in the bottom of the first and took the lead with three runs in the fifth.

Lake Forest battled back with two in the top of the sixth on junior Lisa Jeziorny’s (Orland Park, IL/ Carl Sandburg) two-out single to center. The visitors stranded the tying run on third base in the seventh.

Forester sophomore Kendra Grant (Bothell, WA/Bothell), who pitched the sixth inning in the opener, started game two and scattered six hits over five scoreless innings. She is now 10-2 on the season with a 1.94 earned run average. Senior Ashley Closson (Murphysboro, IL/Murphysboro) blanked the Lady Reds for the final two innings to record her school record fifth career save.

Senior Melissa Wegner (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech), who had a pair of base hits in the opener, singled to lead off the third inning of game two. She advanced to second on Risi’s sacrifice bunt and scored the game’s first run on a two-out single by Jeziorny, who was 3-for-4 in the game.

Lake Forest added a run in the fifth. Sophomore Christy Condon (Brookfield, WI/Brookfield East) led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a suicide squeeze by Closson.

Risi, who was 2-for-2 in the game and 3-for-5 with two runs scored on the day, singled to lead off the top of the seventh inning. Watts followed with her fourth home run of the season and the pair of runs batted in raised her total on the year to 35, one more than the single-season school record she set in 2005.

The Foresters also received good news from elsewhere in the Midwest Conference. Thanks to Illinois College’s doubleheader sweep of Monmouth College, Lake Forest clinched first place in the MWC’s South Division and the right to host next weekend’s (May 5-6) conference championship tournament. Ripon College has also secured a berth in the tourney and Monmouth, Grinnell College, St. Norbert College, Beloit College, and Lawrence University are still in contention for the final two spots.