Foresters Rout Monmouth in Midwest Conference Championship Game
Team hits three home runs, Findeisen throws ninth shutout of the year
  

 The Foresters reward Head Coach Diane Kanney with a dousing.

The Foresters had defeated St. Norbert College (2-1) in the opening round of the double elimination tournament early Friday (May 3rd) afternoon. Lake Forest also beat Monmouth College (4-1) later in the day to advance to Saturday's championship. Lawrence University was eliminated on Friday by losses to both Monmouth (4-3) and St. Norbert (8-7 in 8 innings). In Saturday's early game, Monmouth eliminated the Green Knights of St. Norbert with
a 5-3 victory to get to the championship.

Although Saturday's game was played on its home field, Lake Forest was the visiting team and quickly took advantage of the opportunity to get on the scoreboard first. Freshman second baseman Alissa Mildebrath (Carol Stream, IL/West Chicago) cleared the left-center field fence with her school record eighth home run of the season to lead off the game. Junior designated player Megan Gibson (Brown Deer, WI/Brown Deer), who drew five walks and scored five runs in the Foresters' three tournament games, singled and later scored on senior catcher Jenn Reifenberg's (Skokie, IL/Niles West) third home run of the year, a two-run shot which barely cleared the fence down the left field line.

Lake Forest scored three more runs in the third inning on one swing of third baseman Robyn Slater's (Granite City, IL/Granite City) bat. The junior cleared the center field fence and bleachers with her fifth home run of the year, which also scored Gibson and freshman shortstop Tina Koludrovic (Darien, IL/Downers Grove South), who hit a two-run homer in each of Friday's (May 3rd) games. The first five players in the Forester lineup - Mildebrath, Gibson, Koludrovic, Slater, and Reifenberg - combined to hit .361 (13-36) in the team's three tournament games with six homers, 12 runs scored, and 12 more driven in.

The final two runs in the game came on a two-out single down the right field line by senior centerfielder Erin Valentour (Bolingbrook, IL/Downers Grove South) in the top of the fifth.

While the eight Forester runs were nice, very few of them were actually necessary, as Nancy Findeisen (Beecher, IL/ Beecher) recorded her ninth shutout of the season, a three-hitter in which she struck out eight and did not allow a single base on balls. In a pair of tournament wins, the sophomore pitched 14 scoreless innings and allowed just seven hits while striking out 14. For the season, Findeisen is now 13-5 with a paltry 0.72 earned run average. She has struck out a school record 128 batters and walked just nine in 117 innings.

Along with its second-ever league title, Lake Forest also receives the MWC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Foresters, who were ranked 11th (tie) in the country in the latest USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll (May 1st), will play in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament next weekend (May 10-12th). The regional tourney site and opponents are still to be determined.

Monmouth - St. Norbert Box Score
Lake Forest - Monmouth Box Score