The Lake Forest College softball team prevailed twice on Thursday, blanking the University of Northwestern (Minn.) 5-0 before coming out on top 16-10 against Alfred University.

The shutout was the fourth for senior pitcher Riley Stiles since she became a Forester last year. She struck out six batters for the second straight start and scattered four hits and four walks in the contest. She improved to 2-1 with a 2.00 earned run average this season.

Lake Forest took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning when a bunt single by senior right fielder Emmie Nyen brought home junior Paige Ratliff with the game's first run. Nyen later scored on a passed ball.

The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the fifth when sophomore center fielder Vanessa Buske belted her first home run of the season and, two batters later, senior third baseman Cadence Dempsey did the same with a runner on base. Buske also doubled earlier in the contest and Dempsey's round-tripper was the 19th of her career, which ranks tied-for-seventh in program history.

While the final score would lead one to believe otherwise, the game against Alfred was a pitchers' duel for the first four innings. The Foresters trailed 2-0 before scoring seven runs in the top of the fifth inning. Dempsey scored the first on a base hit by senior left fielder Brooke Swiecki and Nyen followed with her first home run of the season, giving her team a 3-2 lead. Sophomore first baseman Nicole Marceau doubled in two runs and two more came in on a base hit by Dempsey.

The Saxons answered the Foresters' seven-run rally with one of their own in the bottom of the fifth to regain their two-run advantage.

That lead disappeared and then some in the top of the seventh. Sophomore Natalie Booth delivered a run-scoring pinch-hit single to make it a one-run game, a bunt single by Ratliff tied the score, and a sacrifice fly by Swiecke put Lake Forest on top. Nyen recorded her second RBI-bunt single of the day and Buske plated three when she homered for the second straight game. Junior second baseman Jolie Devalk continued the rally with a two-run double and junior Maci Lake, who pinch-ran for Dempsey earlier in the inning, drove in the final two on a double over the left fielder's head.

Another comeback was not in the cards in the bottom of the seventh for Alfred, although a run did score on a two-out homer.

Nyen and Marceau were each responsible for three of the team's season-high 16 hits in the game.

Senior Morgan Traxinger started in the circle for Lake Forest and worked into the fifth inning before giving way to sophomore Hannah Tutor for the final three frames. Both struck out two batters and allowed four earned runs with Tutor earning the victory and improving to 2-1 on the season.

The Foresters improved to 6-2 during their season-opening Spring Break trip to Clermont, Florida, to play in The Spring Games. Northwestern fell to 7-7 and Alfred to 3-5.

Lake Forest will close out the week with a pair of games against Belhaven University and East Texas Baptist University on Saturday. Those teams are ranked 23rd and 7th in the nation, respectively, in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association Poll.