Lake Forest College Sports Information
March 14, 2004
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Lake Forest Splits Six Games at NFCA Leadoff Classic
Team finishes Spring Break trip 6-5  

  

Alissa Mildebrath was 8-for-20 in the tournament.
LAGRANGE, GA - The Lake Forest College softball team completed its spring break trip with six games in the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic, where 24 teams were invited to compete over three days (March 12-14). The Foresters fell 8-0 to East Texas Baptist University and 1-0 in 10 innings to Muhlenberg College in their first two games of the event on Friday. The team sneaked past Bridgewater State College with a 3-2 win to complete pool play on Saturday but was defeated 7-1 by Wheaton College (MA) in the first round of bracket play. On Sunday, the Foresters ended their trip to Georgia with a 5-3 victory over Bridgewater and a 6-3 triumph over Western Connecticut State University. After playing 11 games in eight days, Lake Forest’s record is 6-5.

East Texas Baptist maintained its undefeated record (11-0) by posting a five-inning shutout in the Foresters’ first game of the tournament. Lake Forest managed just four base hits with sophomore Ashley Closson’s (Murphysboro, IL/Murphysboro) double being the only one to go for extra bases. Freshmen Erin Watts (Evergreen Park, IL/Evergreen Park) and Katherine Stankiewicz (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) recorded their first career stolen bases.

The Foresters out-hit Muhlenberg 5-2 but stranded a dozen runners in Friday’s ten-inning pitchers’ duel. A sacrifice fly scored the game’s only run in the top of the tenth inning. Closson was saddled with the hard-luck loss despite surrendering just a pair of base hits in the longest outing of her career.

On Saturday, Bridgewater took a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before freshman Mackenzie Knowling (Lafayette, IN/McCutcheon) scored on an error in the top of the third. The Foresters tied the game at two in the sixth with an RBI single from Watts to knock in sophomore Melissa Wegner (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech). The game-winning hit followed as Justeen Streich’s (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) single scored Stankiewicz to give Knowling the 3-2 victory. Streich and junior Alissa Mildebrath (Carol Stream, IL/West Chicago) were each 2-for-4 in the game.

Following the completion of pool play, Lake Forest was assigned to the Bronze Bracket, where Wheaton knocked off the Foresters in the first round. Closson collected two of the team’s three base hits and pitched four innings in relief.

Lake Forest’s first game on Sunday, the final day of competition, began at 8:00 a.m. and the Foresters wasted little time before getting on the scoreboard. Consecutive two-out singles by Mildebrath, junior Kristen Feeney (Brookfield, IL/Lyons Township), and Closson plated a run in the bottom of the first inning. After Bridgewater scored a pair of runs in the top of the third, Lake Forest responded with two of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Wegner singled with one out and promptly stole second base. Mildebrath singled in Wegner and advanced to second on the throw. Feeney followed with a single to score Mildebrath with the go-ahead run. Bridgewater tied the score in the fourth but a pair of Forester runs in the fifth proved to be the difference. Mildebrath, who, along with Feeney, was 3-for-3 in the game, doubled and scored on a Closson groundout. Feeney also scored in the inning on a two-out double by freshman Kris Edland (Carol Stream, IL/Glenbard North). Freshman pitcher Kristen Proffit (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) went the distance for her first collegiate victory.

Senior Leigh Anne Furgerson (Carmel, IN/Westfield) got her third win of the season in the Bronze Bracket Consolation Finals. She scattered eight Western Connecticut State University base hits and just one of the three runs she allowed was earned. Lake Forest scored a run in the bottom of the second inning, two in the third and fourth, and a final tally in the sixth. Streich, Feeney, freshman Kim Silvers (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass) and junior Hannah Starck (Aurora, IL/Aurora West) each had two of the team’s 12 base hits and Mildebrath drove in a pair of runs.

Mildebrath, a First Team All-American last season, was the team’s top hitter in the tournament with a .400 (8-for-20) batting average, four runs scored and three driven in. Closson had seven base hits and Feeney six. The Foresters stole 11 bases in the six games, the same number they swiped during the entire 2003 season. The pitching (1.64 earned run average) was also solid but 17 errors on defense led to 14 unearned runs.

Lake Forest will now have a couple of weeks to prepare for its next contest. The team’s home opener is scheduled for Saturday, March 27, at 1:00 p.m. against North Central College.

By Tiffany Rudak and Mike Wajerski

Box Scores: 
vs. East Texas Baptist University
vs. Muhlenberg College
vs. Bridgewater State College
vs. Wheaton College (MA)
vs. Bridgewater State College
vs. Western Connecticut State University
 


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