The one thing that went according to form for Lake Forest College’s softball team is that it won the Midwest Conference tournament last weekend and will represent the league in the NCAA Division III tournament that starts this week.
Since then, things haven’t necessarily gone as expected regarding the Foresters’ second straight appearance in the postseason.
It started when assignments were made for the 16 four-team regional tournaments that will be held this weekend. In the four team group that includes LFC, North Central, Hope, and Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Foresters were not the highest-ranked of the four teams in the NCAA poll so being asked to host the event came as a surprise.
But the bigger surprise came when the teams were assigned to play at Lake Forest. Hope College in Holland, Mich., is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, and the team is not allowed to play on Sundays.
So, while the other 15 regionals will be played Friday-Sunday, Lake Forest’s double-elimination tourney will go Thursday-Saturday.
This is a double-elimination event and Thursday’s schedule has Wisconsin-Whitewater (36-7) facing Hope (27-9) at 1 p.m. And LFC (31-8) playing North Central (31-7) from Naperville at 3:30.
On Friday, the two Thursday winners will play at 11 a.m., the Thursday losers will play at 1:30 p.m., and the 11 a.m. loser at 11 will face the 1:30 p.m. Winner at 4. The finals will be at noon and, if needed, 2:30 on Saturday. North Central is the defending regional champion.
More Top Picks Best King Mattresses
In last weekend’s Midwest Conference tourney, LFC blanked Carroll 4-0, and beat Lawrence 3-0 and 5-0 to earn the NCAA playoff berth.
North Central lost to Wheaton College and Augustana in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin playoffs, but still received an NCAA tourney bid.
Ditto for Hope, which lost twice in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association playoffs.
The tourney power might be Whitewater, which won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.
And last week, Whitewater came down to Lake Forest for nonconference games and blanked the Foresters 6-0 and 4-0 in a doubleheader.
Local graduates playing in the tournament are:
Lake Forest — First baseman Sally Snarski (Carmel) is hitting .407 with eight homers and 37 RBIs; catcher Alex Hemmer (Mundelein) is hitting .371 with four homers and 33 RBIs; and middle infielder Raquel Ness (Grayslake North) is a defensive specialist who doesn’t often hit.
Wisconsin-Whitewater — First baseman Amy Ricci (Warren) is hitting .294 with six homers and 39 RBIs; and outfielder Haley Morelli (Mundelein) is hitting .283.
In the latest NCAA D-III poll, North Central was No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region, Whitewater No. 4 and LFC No. 6. Hope was ranked No. 2 in the Central Region.
The winner of this regional will play in the Round of 16 against either Illinois Wesleyan (36-8), Alma from Michigan (25-15), Simpson from Iowa (29-10) or Anderson from Indiana (30-9).
Another area grad who is playing in the D-III tournament is Abbey Rosenow from Mundelein (Aurora University). Aurora is in a regional with Central (Iowa), Gustavus Adolphus (Minnesota) and Fontbonne (Missouri).