Furgerson’s No-Hitter Highlights Sweep of Benedictine
Foresters win 3-0 and 2-1 
  

Leigh Anne Furgerson held the Eagles hitless in game one.

Game one belonged to senior pitcher Leigh Anne Furgerson (Carmel, IN/Westfield), who recorded her first career no-hitter. She struck out six in the game, including the 200th of her career. Furgerson also has three one-hitters and four two-hitters to her credit, including one of each against Benedictine in 2002.

The Foresters got on the scoreboard in the second inning. A walk, a single by freshman Jenny Riddle (Bloomington, IL/Normal), and another walk loaded the bases with one out and, after fouling off a few pitches, junior Hannah Starck (Aurora, IL/Aurora West) drew the third base on balls of the inning to score Riddle. Freshman Erin Watts (Evergreen Park, IL/Evergreen Park) drove in the other run with a slow ground ball to the second baseman, giving Furgerson more than enough run support.

A throwing error by the pitcher in the third inning put junior Kristen Feeney (Brookfield, IL/Lyons Township) on second and a passed ball sent her to third. Sophomore Ashley Closson’s (Murphysboro, IL/Murphysboro) RBI single to center field drove in Feeney with an additional insurance run.

Furgerson, who retired the first 17 batters she faced against Grinnell College on Saturday, was perfect again through four innings. She walked one in the fifth and another in the sixth. Benedictine’s only other baserunner reached on an error in the sixth. Watts helped preserve the no-hitter in the in seventh when the right fielder picked up what appeared to be a line drive single and threw out the batter at first base.

Game two was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning. Closson singled up the middle to lead off the frame. Starck entered the game as a pinch-runner and promptly stole second. An infield error and a single loaded the bases and, when a pop-up fell just fair behind first base, Starck scored from third.

The Foresters got their second tally in the fifth inning when a spinning ground ball hit by Riddle found its way through the right side of the infield and scored Watts from second base.

Benedictine made things interesting in the seventh, starting the inning off with a double and recording three hard-hit singles before leaving the bases loaded. Freshman Mackenzie Knowling (Lafayette, IN/McCutcheon) went the distance for the home team and raised her record to 4-1.

Lake Forest will be back on the road this weekend (April 9-10) with a Midwest Conference doubleheader at Illinois College on Friday at 3:00 p.m. and another at Monmouth College Saturday afternoon at 1:00.

Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2