The Forester softball team opened 2026 with a 9-2 victory over Hood College before falling 4-0 to Case Western Reserve University, the 20th-ranked team in the nation, in Florida on Sunday.

Catcher Kyla Chevalier's senior season could not have started much better. She threw out a runner trying to steal in the first inning and then belted the first pitch she saw over the left field fence to tie the game in the top of the third.

The score remained 1-1 until senior left fielder Brooke Swiecke and junior shortstop Kaia Mismash scored on a throwing error in the top of the fifth. The Foresters plated two more in the sixth, one on a base hit by junior designated player Paige Ratliff and another on a double by Swiecke.

Lake Forest broke the game open in the seventh. Mismash led off the frame with a bunt single, advanced to second on a passed ball, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch. Junior first baseman Nicole Marceau and Ratliff singled in runs and another came home on an error.

Hood scored once in the bottom of the inning to account for the final score.

Forester senior pitcher Morgan Traxinger allowed just a run on one hit in six innings of work to earn the victory. She also struck out three batters and walked two in the contest.

Junior Jolie Devalk was Lake Forest's top offensive performer against Case Western Reserve. She doubled, drew a pair of walks, and stole a base. The team's other base hits came from Mismash, Marceau, and Chevalier.

The Spartans managed just five hits against Forester senior pitcher Riley Stiles but two of them were home runs. She recorded four strikeouts and surrendered one run in the second, two in the third, and another in the seventh.

Hood fell to 0-5 and Case Western Reserve improved to 5-0 on the young season.

Lake Forest will play twice on Monday, taking on Nichols College at 1:30 p.m. (ET) and Swarthmore College at 3:45 p.m. (ET).