Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
 
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Tournament Page
 
WHEELING, Ill. – The 2019 Midwest Conference (MWC) Softball Tournament got underway this morning at the Heritage Park Sports Complex in Wheeling, Illinois with host Lake Forest College and St. Norbert College picking up the first two wins of the day.
 
The Green Knights shutout Illinois College while the Foresters held the high scoring offense of Grinnell College to three runs. However, that was not the end of the road for the Lady Blues and Pioneers as the tournament is a double elimination format.
 
The Pioneers and Lady Blues will play in an elimination game this afternoon with Lake Forest and St. Norbert following to see who advances to Saturday’s championship game undefeated.
 
Live stats can be found here.
 
Game 1: SNC 6 vs. IC 0
 
St. Norbert and Illinois College were scoreless through three innings of play, as each team had only had two hits. However, the Green Knights struck in the top of the fourth inning with a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead. Ashley Zimmerman led off the inning with a home run to right for the only won pitcher Emma Molenhouse would need. Two batters later, Molenhouse helped herself out with a single that put pinch runner Yost on third who then scored on a throwing error by the catcher.
 
After having one of her best starts of the year against Illinois College in the regular season, Molehouse topped it with her three-hit shutout today. She outperformed one of the league’s top pitchers in Sydney Hood who allowed four earned runs on nine hits. For the third game this season, the Lady Blues had no answer for St. Norbert’s leadoff hitter Brianna Braeger as she reached base in all four-plate appearances. Braeger went 3-for-3 with a walk, RBI, and a run.
 
The speedy centerfield did most of her damage in the sixth inning to help the Green Knights extend their lead to 6-0. Ullman led off the inning with a single, and after advancing to third on a fielder’s choice, scored on Braeger’s hit up the middle. Braeger then utilized her speed as her steal of second drew a throw that allowed the runner to come in from third and two batters later she came around to score on a Carley Frauenhoff single.
 
The Lady Bues three hits for the game came off the bats of Jackie Reilly, Savanna Brady, and Sam Seggerman.
 
Game 2: LFC 7 vs. GC 3
 
Lake Forest entered the 2018 MWC Tournament as the top seed and were upset in its first game 3-0 by Cornell College. The Foresters avoided the upset this year as they got out to a 4-0 after two innings on their way to a 7-3 win over Grinnell College.
 
After the first batter of the inning popped out, the Foresters loaded the bases against Grinnell’s Darice Wheeler. Riley Frisbie stepped to the plate and drew a walk to bring in Shaye Gauthier for the 1-0 lead. Wheeler struggled to find the plate in the second inning as well as Lake Forest drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. A Maria Zepeda double and singles from Diamond Owens and Gauthier followed to increase the score to 3-0. Alyssa Grimm added an RBI double to bring in the eventual game winning run.
 
The Pioneers attempted a late inning two-out rally as they got back-to-back hits from Mya Davis and Ashley Wehrenberg in the sixth. After a wild pitch, both scored on an error by the Lake Forest second baseman to cut the deficit to 5-3. However, the Foresters responded with a two-run home run from Hailey Boylan to restore the four-run lead.
 
Missy Dieckman-Meyer earned the win on the mound as she went all seven innings with all three runs by the Pioneers being unearned. Gauthier and Grimm led the Lake Forest offense with two hits apiece while Matsubara and Sidney Litke also had two hits to lead Grinnell.