Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
 
Championship Box Score | Game 5 Box Score | Tournament Page

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Down to its last out, Lake Forest College’s Shaye Gauthier delivered a two-run home run to win the Midwest Conference (MWC) Softball Tournament and earn the Foresters the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
For the second time in two days, the Foresters trailed St. Norbert College entering the late innings. On Friday, Lake Forest used a five-run fifth inning to take the lead on its way to a 9-4 win over the Green Knights. The Foresters needed two more innings on Saturday afternoon but Lake Forest got the job done as it has all season to move on to NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
 
Neither team was able to a score through the first three innings off pitchers Missy Dieckman-Meyer and Emma Molenhouse until game five hero, Alyssa Sikora, connected on a home run to center to put St. Norbert up 1-0. Sikora went 2-for-2 with the game deciding two-run double in the Green Knights 8-6 win over Grinnell College to advance to the championship game.
 
St. Norbert would add two more in the fourth inning on a bases loaded walk from Knop and a two-run single from Carley Frauenhof for a 4-0 lead. The Foresters finally broke through on Molenhouse in the fifth inning as Wyatt homerd to left to cut the deficit to two. Lake Forest had a chance to tie the game the next inning as they had runners first and second with one down but had to settle for one.
 
Riley Frisbie knocked in Alyssa Grimm for that one run to make the score 4-3 in between loud outs to the outfield by Emma Varsberg and Hannah Kalnicky. That was all just setting up for Gauthier to play the hero in the bottom of the seventh.
 
It looked as if Wyatt was going to be left at first after opening the inning with a single as the next two hitters popped out. However, up stepped Gauthier who crushed one to left center for the walk off 5-4 win.

The victory makes Lake Forest the MWC Regular Season and Tournament champions and send the Foresters to the NCAA DIII Tournament for the second year in a row. Lake Forest will find out the region it is playing in during Monday’s selection show.

Game 5 SNC 8 vs. GC 6
 
In an elimination game on Saturday morning, Grinnell got out to an early 5-0 lead but St. Norbert used five run two-out rally to tie the game and a got a pair of big hits from catcher Alyssa Sikora on its way to an 8-6 win and a rematch with Lake Forest in the championship game.
 
The Pioneer’s three-headed monster of Maddie Matsubara, Darice Wheeler, and Mya Davis in the middle of the lineup combined for four hits, four runs, and three RBI to stake Grinnell to a 5-0 after three innings. Leila Bishop-Parise and Matsubara led off the game with back-to-back hits through the circle then came in to score on Ashley Wehrenberg’s hit to left for a 2-0 lead.
 
The heart of the order struck for three runs in the third as Matsubara got her second hit of the game and Wheeler followed with an RBI double. Next to the plate was Davis who put one over the left field fence for the 5-0 lead.
 
In the circle, Wheeler was cruising through 2.2 innings but hit a snag after getting the first two outs of the third inning. The Green Knights had six straight reach base with two outs as they tied the score at 5-5. St. Norbert loaded the bases for Taylor Ullman who preceded to clear them with a double to cut the deficit to two. Sikora and Sarah Kolterman followed with back-to-back RBI hits to tie the game.
 
The floodgates were now open for the Green Knights’ offense as it added three more runs in the fifth to take the lead. Sikora delivered the game winning hit as her double down the right field line plated two for the 7-5 lead. The Green Knights would add one more in the inning with Grinnell getting one back on a home run from Sidney Litke in the seventh for the final score of 8-6.
 
Ellie Olsen got the win on the mound for the Green Knights after entering in the fourth and allowed just two hits and the one run on Litke’s homer in her four innings of work. Sikora finished the game 2-for-2 with a walk, three RBI, and a run scored.