Tournament Page

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – For the fourth season in a row, the Grinnell College softball team will be on its way to the Midwest Conference Tournament.
 
The Pioneers secured the fourth seed in the four-team event last weekend and will play top-seed and tourney host Lake Forest College in the opening round at noon Friday.
 
In the other first-round game, second-seeded Illinois College faces third-seeded Lawrence University. While the first day of action will be contested at Lake Forest, the second day will be played at Carthage College. The tourney winner earns the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Grinnell, 9-7 in league play and 12-28 in all games, ranks third in MWC play with a .356 batting average and fourth in pitching with an ERA of 4.30. Sofia DiCarlo '25 is the MWC leader in hits with 27, one ahead of teammate Kayla O'Malley '28. They rank sixth and seventh in batting average at .458 and .456, respectively. Hannah Dykstra '25 is fourth in on-base percentage at .533. On the pitching front, Lane Kohler '25 is second in league play with 33 strikeouts and second in victories with seven.
 
Lake Forest, 14-2 in the MWC and 25-14-1 overall, is the league leader in batting average at .381 and second in ERA with a mark of 2.07. Emmie Nyen is the league leader in batting (.523) and on-base percentage (.588), while Cadence Dempsey is tops in RBIs (18). Riley Stiles leads the conference in ERA with a figure of 1.29.