LAKE FOREST, Ill. - In a high-scoring night of softball in Lake Forest, the Carthage Firebirds softball team fell in game one before game two was suspended due to darkness in the eighth inning with Carthage set to bat. More information on the potential rescheduling of the game will be released when it becomes available. 

The team scored seven runs in each game tonight and has now averaged 7.5 runs per game in its last four contests, dating back to its last two games in Florida. 





Game One

• Final Score: Carthage 7, Lake Forest 9. 
• Location: Mohr Field - Lake Forest, Illinois.  
• Records: Carthage 4-7, Lake Forest 8-6. 

Game Two

• End Score: Carthage 7, Lake Forest 7 (Game suspended in the eighth inning due to darkness, may be rescheduled)
• Location: Mohr Field - Lake Forest, Illinois.  
• Records: Carthage 4-7, Lake Forest 8-6. 

Game One:

• Veteran slugger Izzy Hernandez put the Firebirds out front early, scoring Clare Rettler on a two-run shot to center field. 
• The Foresters answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring an unearned run on an RBI groundout. Carthage led 2-1 after one in Illinois. 
• The home team scored the next four runs of the game in the third inning, clearing the bases on an error by Carthage and on an RBI single. 
• The Firebirds fought back in the fifth, tying the game with an RBI from Abby Wierzbicki and a pair of unearned runs with Gracie Vlach reaching via error. 
• Lake Forest had another answer for the Firebirds, sending a runner home in the fifth on a sacrifice fly to center. 
• Carthage stole the lead from Lake Forest again after a sacrifice fly from Rylee Johnson and an RBI single from Sarah Bennett evened things up. 
• One final answer from the Foresters in the bottom of the sixth inning clinched the win for the home team, as a two-run home run put Lake Forest ahead by two. The Firebirds put a runner on third with two outs but failed to put the runner across, leading to the defeat. 

Game Two:

• Game two was another high-scoring affair, with Kelly Gaiser starting off the scoring with an RBI single to center in the third inning. Clare Rettler also scored on the play as an error from the Foresters right fielder allowed her to round third. 
• A passed ball later in the third sent Gracie Vlach home, putting Carthage ahead 3-0. Another crucial error from Lake Forest allowed Rylee Johnson to reach base, scoring Izzy Hernandez; the initial error was compounded by an error from the Foresters pitcher, also allowing Kelly Gaiser to score. 
• An RBI groundout from Kristina Chronos sent the sixth Firebird of the inning home, as Carthage took a commanding 6-0 lead after three. 
• The Foresters saw Carthage's six-run third inning and matched it, sending six runners across the plate to even the score at 6-6. 
• Lake Forest would climb out of its 6-0 deficit to take a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning on an RBI double before Carthage's Kiley Lamb delivered the equalizer in the top of the seventh with a single through the left side of the infield. 
• Lake Forest went one-two-three in the bottom half of the seventh, but darkness forced the two teams to suspend play before Carthage was able to bat in the top of the eighth. More information on the potential rescheduling of the game will be released when it becomes available. 

 

• Carthage's Clare Rettler, after going 10/20 at the plate in Clermont over Spring Break, went 5-7 tonight against Lake Forest. Rettler scored three runs and walked twice for the Firebirds. 
• First baseman Izzy Hernandez went 4-8 at the plate, drilling a two-run home run in the first game of tonight's doubleheader. Hernandez scored two runs, doubled, tripled, and walked as well. 
• In game two, first-year student-athlete Kelly Gaiser went 2-5 with a run scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. 

 

• The Firebirds will play in Kenosha for the first time this season, taking on Illinois College in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Dr. James L. Santarelli Sports Complex. The games are scheduled to be played at noon and 3 p.m.