Lake Forest College Sports Information
May 10, 2002
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Lake Forest Defeats Webster 8-0 at NCAA Regional Tournament
Gibson goes 3-for-4, Findeisen throws tenth shutout
  

 Megan Gibson had her first three-hit game of the season.
BLOOMINGTON, IL - The Lake Forest College softball team trounced Webster University 8-0 on Friday (May 10th) in its first game at the 2002 NCAA Regional Tournament. Webster, whose record fell to 30-6, advanced to the match-up against top-seeded Lake Forest with a 10-0 drubbing of Eureka College in the day's first game. In game two, host Illinois Wesleyan University fell to Washington University (MO) by a score of 4-1. Washington lost to Benedictine University, the number two seed in the tournament, in Friday's final game by a score of 7-0.

With one out in the bottom of the first inning, junior designated player Megan Gibson (Brown Deer, WI/Brown Deer) recorded the game's only extra-base hit, a double to right field. Two batters later, junior third baseman Robyn Slater's (Granite City, IL/Granite City) two-out single brought in Gibson with the game's first run and raised Slater's team-leading RBI total to 24.

Neither team would score again until the bottom of the fourth, when the Foresters plated five runs on six singles and a Webster error, widening their lead to 6-0.

Gibson notched her first three-hit game of the season with an RBI single in the fifth and one more Forester run in the sixth gave the team an 8-0 lead and ended the game.

Lake Forest had a season-high 16 base hits and all 10 Foresters that batted in the game had at least one. Slater and a trio of seniors - catcher Jenn Reifenberg (Skokie, IL/Niles West), leftfielder Kristin Brand (McHenry, IL/McHenry West), and centerfielder Erin Valentour (Bolingbrook, IL/Downers Grove South) - each had two.

Starting pitcher Nancy Findeisen (Beecher, IL/ Beecher) recorded her school-record tenth shutout of the season in the win. The sophomore allowed five base hits and struck out five in raising her record on the year to 14-5 and lowering her earned run average to a microscopic 0.68. Findeisen now has 133 strikeouts on the season (another team record) in 123 innings pitched and has issued just nine bases on balls.

The tournament will continue on Saturday (May 11th), beginning with a pair of elimination games. Eureka College (21-14) and Illinois Wesleyan University (31-10) will play at 12:00 PM, followed by Webster University (30-6) and Washington University (24-17) at 2:00 PM. The Foresters will play against Benedictine University (28-14), who they swept in a doubleheader on April 25th, at 4:00 PM. The winners of the day's first two games will play each other at 6:00 PM, with the winner advancing to Sunday's (May 12th) play and the loser being eliminated.

Box Score
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