The Lake Forest College softball team faced an early-season test Saturday, as the squad faced a pair of ranked opponents in The Spring Games in Clermont, Fla.
 
The Foresters (6-4) matched up with No. 23 Belhaven University in the morning, before taking on No. 7 East Texas Baptist University in the afternoon. Lake Forest fell in both games, snapping their four-game winning streak entering Saturday.
 
#23 Belhaven University 11, Lake Forest 1 (5 Innings)
The Forester offense could not get going against the Blazers, and two big innings offensively for Belhaven doomed Lake Forest, as the Foresters lost, 11-1, in five innings.
 
Pitcher Morgan Traxinger (1-1) took the defeat in the circle for Lake Forest. The senior threw three-plus innings, allowed nine hits and eight runs (seven earned), while walking four batters.
 
Traxinger opened the game strongly for Lake Forest. She set down the top of the Belhaven lineup 1-2-3 in the first inning, then allowed only one unearned run in the second.
 
The Foresters responded with a run of their own in the top of the third to tie the game. After a trio of singles from Vanessa Buske, Cadence Dempsey, and Lia Taglia, Paige Ratliff brought home the Foresters' first run on an RBI groundout to second base to score Buske.
 
Belhaven came right back in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs – all with two outs in the inning. The Blazers added six more runs in the fourth inning to force Traxinger's exit and break the game open.
 
Offensively, the Foresters were limited to just four hits on the day, with the only extra-base hit coming on a double from senior Kyla Chevalier.
 
#7 East Texas Baptist University 10, Lake Forest 3
The Foresters' defense was not at their best in Lake Forest's second game of the day. Lake Forest committed five errors, as the Foresters were defeated, 10-3.
 
Senior Riley Stiles (2-2) pitched the entire game but took the loss. The Bancroft, Wis., native allowed 13 hits and allowed 10 runs, nine of which were earned. Stiles walked four batters and hit another while throwing 136 pitches in her seven innings of work.
 
The Foresters fell behind 6-0 after the first two innings, and the early deficit proved too much to overcome.
 
The junior Ratliff went 1-for-4 with an RBI, her team-high seventh run batted in of the season. Dempsey and freshman Laylah Gore each also brought home Foresters in the sixth inning, as Dempsey plated Brooke Swiecki on a sacrifice fly, and then Gore's single brought home junior Nicole Marceau.
 
Saturday marked the end of the Foresters' run in The Spring Games, as the team finished 6-4 in the 10 games across the last six days.
 
Lake Forest will continue nonconference play next Saturday, as the Foresters will face off against Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., for a doubleheader. The first pitch for game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.