FRIDAY APRIL 23 2010 UPDATE

COMMITMENTS

Christie Nieto, El Dorado HS, to Oregon

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS (April 17-22)

A PEEK AT DIVISION iii
SPY has endeavored to include notes on D1 teams other than Top 25 – eg, Lipscomb, USC Upstate, Radford and others – and publish NFCA’s Top 25 lists for DII and DIII schools.  Which has prompted some readers to urge SPY to publish a DIII story.  Ergo:

Foresters Sweep Doubleheader at Monmouth to Clinch Spot in MWC Tournament
Team is now 8-1 in conference play
 

MONMOUTH, Ill. - The Lake Forest College softball team won 6-3 and 10-2 (five innings) at Monmouth College on Sunday (April 18), raising its overall record on the season to 18-10-1. The Foresters are now 8-1 with 12 points in Midwest Conference play and has clinched one of the MWC South Division's two spots in the MWC Championship Tournament and is one league victory shy of clinching the right to host the event. The Fighting Scots fell to 10-18 overall and 6-5 in conference games.

 

Sophomore catcher/outfielder Danielle Gore (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) and freshman designated player Nikki Miller (Starkville, Miss./Starkville Academy) each had four of the Foresters' 22 base hits on the day. Gore led the visitors with four runs scored and Miller with five RBI.

Lake Forest jumped out to the early lead in the opener by scoring three runs in the first inning. Gore started the rally with a one-out walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored two batters later on a double by senior third baseman Mallory Norton (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection). Miller then tripled in Norton and came home when the next hitter reached on an error.

Gore singled to start the third inning and later scored on a double by Miller.

After Monmouth plated two in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Lake Forest lead in half, the visitors scored two runs of the own in the top of the fifth. Gore started the rally again with a one-out single. After a pair of errors loaded the bases, Miller matched a career-high with her third base hit of the contest. Two runs scored, making Miller the fourth Forester this season to drive in four runs in a game.

The only earned run of the game allowed by Lake Forest freshman pitcher Jordan Ratliff (Petersburg, Mich./Summerfield) scored in the bottom of the sixth inning. She scattered seven base hits, struck out five batters, and did not issue a walk. Ratliff is now 8-4 with a 1.57 earned run average on the season.

Fellow freshman pitcher Molly Thomsen (Rumford, R.I./St. Mary Academy) pitched all five innings for the Foresters in game two, allowing just two runs on five hits and raising her record on the year to 5-4.

Lake Forest scored in the first inning for the 14th time this season. Freshman second baseman Megan Harkins (Homewood, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) singled to start the contest, advanced all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by Gore, and scored on a base hit by senior shortstop Tracy Rainey (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park), who leads the Foresters with 29 runs batted in. The Scots, however, tied the score with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.

The visitors took the lead for good with four runs in the third inning. Harkins started the inning with a single, stole a couple of bases, and scored on a base hit by Gore. Rainey walked and Norton singled in Gore. Miller's base hit plated Rainey and Norton scored on a double by senior outfielder Jeanette Andresen (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South).

Both teams scored a run in the fourth inning, the Foresters when senior outfielder Sam Pinsoneault (Manchester, N.H./New Hampton), who started the frame with a single, scored from first on a one-out double by Gore.

Lake Forest scored four times in the top of the fifth inning to extend its lead to eight runs. Norton led off with her team-high sixth home run of the season and the 18th round-tripper of her career. Sophomore outfielder Leslie Harshey (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) singled with two outs and scored on a double by senior first baseman Shelby Neill (Manitou Beach, Mich./Lenawee Christian). Pinsonneault walked and Harkins tripled in the final two runs on the game.

Harkins had three on the team's 15 hits and Gore, Norton, Harshey, and Neill finished with two apiece.

The Foresters will play close out its league schedule with a pair of home doubleheaders next weekend (April 24-25). The team will host Knox College Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and Grinnell College at the same time on Sunday. Live Stats during all four games will be available on the Lake Forest College Athletics Web site.

POTPOURRI

Trent Williams should prove to be worth the #4 pick, and contribute solidly to the protection of Redskin Donovan McNabb, but, can’t help remembering the two plays – BYU and Texas – when Sooner QB Sam Bradford was all alone, and was blindsided from the left.  Perhaps it was the defense OU coaches called, but BYU had a notorious headhunter whose avowed purpose was to knock Bradford out of the game.
ESPN’s resident motormouth is so grating on the nerves he makes the commercials welcome.
Sarah Palin has reportedly earned $12 million in the year she left the governor’s chair, and, while she is endorsing conservative candidates, Washington is buzzing she has not contributed to their campaigns.
Like day following night, college football pezzonovantes took note of the expansion of NCAA basketball tournament to 68 teams (thankfully not 96 as rumored), so the Big Ten, the SEC and PAC 10 are said to be eyeing each other warily to see who will expand first.  Talk has the Big Ten taking Syracuse, Rutgers and Pittsburgh, which would decimate Big East and perhaps force Notre Dame to rethink its football stand-alone posture.  Having raided in the past, the ACC is said to be guarding its flanks.  The goal, boys and girls, is not to produce more competitive football; it’s about revenues  – big, big TV and other money.

Outwitting telephone marketers.  To worm around no-call rules, marketers have seized upon fax numbers, which are tied to telephone lines.  SPY has two numbers left over from the past life which are now used solely for facsimile transmissions.  Somehow, in the past week, those numbers have appeared on telemarketers lists.  So, when the telephones next to the fax machines ring, I know the call is not in reference to SPY Softball.  I interrupt the message, and in a stern voice, declare:  “This is a classified telephone; if you remain online for more than 10 seconds, you will be reported.”  Works every time!

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