GRINNELL, Iowa – Last year at the Midwest Conference Tournament, Grinnell College's softball team snapped a 25-game losing streak to Lake Forest College.
The Pioneers continued that string in the first game of Saturday's twin bill at the Softball Complex, combining a stellar pitching performance by
Darice Wheeler '21 with timely hitting in a 5-3 win over the league's preseason title favorite.
Grinnell looked poised for the sweep, but Lake Forest scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to come away with a 5-3 win in the second game.
Maddie Matsubara '22 tied a school record for hits in a game in the opener, going 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored. She had two doubles among her totals.
Mya Davis '21 added two hits, and Wheeler tossed a six-hitter and gave up just two earned runs while fanning one.
The game was back and forth, with Grinnell striking initially in the first inning when Davis singled to right as Matsubara took third on the play and scored on an error. The Foresters tied it in the top of the third, but Grinnell came back in the bottom of the inning when
Ashley Wehrenberg '19 hit an RBI single to center.
Lake Forest rallied for two runs in the fifth, only to see the Pioneers score in the bottom of the inning on Davis' sacrifice fly to center. That put her in a tie for the Grinnell career lead in that department with four.
The Pioneers proved they didn't want to play extra innings, scoring twice in the sixth as
Leila Bishop-Parise '21 hit an RBI single to right-center and Matsubara pushed across a run with a single to right.
Elle Adams '22 had a strong pitching outing for Grinnell in the second game, giving up eight hits in 6-2/3 innings and striking out two.
Lily Seibert '19 swung the hot bat for the Pioneers, belting a pair of run-scoring hits.
Lake Forest opened the scoring in the third, but the Pioneers tied it in the bottom of the inning when Davis sent an RBI single to right. The Pioneers tacked on solo runs in the fourth and sixth innings, one coming on Seibert's RBI double to right-center and another in the sixth on Seibert's run-scoring single through the left side. But the Foresters awoke in the seventh inning with four runs and held on from there.
There was some movement on Grinnell's career chart during the game.
Emily Jordan '19 ranks eighth in games started with 120, Wheeler is seventh in walks with 39 and pitching wins with 13 and
Flynn Johnson '19 moved up to fifth in putouts with 368. Wehrenberg is now tied for second in career double plays turned with 15 and Johnson is fifth with 10.
Both teams are 1-1 in the league. The Pioneers moved to 4-16 overall and the Foresters own an 8-10 record.
Grinnell is back in action Sunday when Beloit College visits for a MWC twin bill. The first pitch is at noon.
