Softball Wins MWC South Title With Three Wins Over the Weekend
Foresters to play in MWC Championship Tournament on May 4-5

LAKE FOREST, IL - With a split of Monmouth College on Saturday (April 28th) and a sweep of Illinois College on Sunday (April 29th), the Lake Forest College softball team claimed the Midwest Conference South Division championship. The Foresters will play as the division's top seed in next weekend's (May 4-5) MWC Championship Tournament.

Lake Forest (17-15-1, 9-3-1 MWC) knocked off Monmouth (20-14, 6-5 MWC), who will represent the South as the number two seed at the upcoming tournament, 8-5, in the first game, and fell to the Fighting Scots, 9-2, in the second contest. 

The Foresters shutout Illinois College (14-14, 5-8 MWC) in both games - 9-0 and 6-0. The three wins over the weekend ensure Lake Forest of at least a .500 record for the first time since 1996. 

The division championship is the second of fifth-year Head Coach Diane Kanney's career, but her first outright. She led the Foresters to a three-way tie for the division title in 1999, but Lake Forest was left out of the four-team MWC Championship Tournament because of tie-breaking criteria. This year's trip will be the second straight for Lake Forest. They were a number two seed last year and lost both games at the tournament.

In Saturday's first game with Monmouth, the Foresters found themselves down 5-0 after MC pounded four runs in the first inning and added another in the third. But Lake Forest took the lead with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, including a game-tying three-run home run by Jenn Reifenberg (Skokie, IL/Niles West). She added a solo home run in the next inning to close out the scoring and give LF an 8-5 win. Reifenberg finished the day three-for-four with four RBIs and two runs. Kim Sponsel (San Diego, CA/Mira Mesa) and Colleen Cotton (Crystal Lake, IL/Prairie Ridge) each added two hits, and Kim Magee (Lake Oswego, OR/Lake Oswego) chipped in three hits, two of which were doubles, and three RBIs. As a team, Lake Forest had 14 hits. Leigh Anne Furgerson (Carmel, IN/Westfield) settled down after a rocky start to gain her 10th victory of the season (versus seven losses). 

Monmouth scored seven runs over the first three innings of the second game en route to the 9-2 win. Five errors plagued the Foresters. Sponsel had three of the team's six hits, including a home run.

Furgerson and Carly Gilbert (Berthound, CO/Westminster) limited Illinois College to a combined seven hits in two games on Sunday. Furgerson scattered five hits over six innings in the first game, and Gilbert pitched a two-hitter in game two.

The Foresters hit three home runs in the first game - one each by Reifenberg, Sponsel, and Robyn Slater (Granite City, IL/Granite City). They also each had two RBIs.

During the second game, eight different players had at least one hit and six different players had at least one RBI as Lake Forest pounded out a total of 14 hits, giving them 25 for the day. Cotton, Shannon Joselane (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard East), Karla Gribble (Mineral Point, WI/Mineral Point), and Kristin Brand (McHenry, IL/McHenry West) all had two hits, while Magee went three-for-five and scored three runs.

Lake Forest will find out on Wednesday (May 2nd) the pairings and site for the MWC Championship Tournament. This year's tournament will be hosted by the North Division champion and Carroll College needs just one win in two games at Lawrence on Tuesday (May 1st) in order to secure hosting privileges. 

LF-MC Game One Box Score
LF-MC Game Two Box Score

LF-IC Game One Box Score
LF-IC Game Two Box Score