APPLETON, Wis. — Alissa Geipel scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning Saturday to lift the Lawrence University softball team to a 3-2 victory over Lake Forest College in the opening game of the Midwest Conference Tournament at Whiting Field.
Lawrence (20-13) advances to play either Cornell College or St. Norbert College at 5 p.m. today. Lake Forest (17-17) will face either Cornell or St. Norbert in an elimination game at 3 p.m. today.
With the score tied at 2-2, Geipel led off the ninth with a line single to right field that got under the glove of Kayla Borgra, and Geipel ended up at second on the play.
After Cory Paquette’s sacrifice bunt moved Geipel to third, Tierney Duffy hit a fly ball to center field. Geipel raced home ahead of the throw and Lawrence led 3-2.
Borgra led off the bottom of the ninth with a single that went to the wall in the gap in right field. Cathy Kaye threw a strike to Geipel and cut down Borgra at second for the first out. Shannon Murray then retired the next two hitters to secure the win.
The Vikings got a great pitching performance from Murray, who allowed only four hits and went the distance. She struck out 11 and walked one. Jessi Werner took the loss despite a standout pitching performance for Lake Forest. Werner allowed eight hits, struck out 10 and walked four.
Alex Chiodo went 2-for-4 to pace the Vikings. Whitney Leiderman also went 2-for-4 on a pair of bunt singles for Lake Forest.
The Vikings got on the board in the top of the third when Duffy led off with a single and stole second. With two outs, Savanna Marsicek grounded back up the middle, and the ball was knocked down by second baseman Kaleigh Ambrose. Duffy never stopped running and scored on the play for a 1-0 lead.
Lawrence made it 2-0 when Murray belted a solo homer in the top of the sixth. The Foresters pulled back to even and forced extra innings when Sam Ritsema hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.