Playing in its first games since wrapping up a 10-2 trip to Central Florida last week, the No. 21 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team suffered back-to-back losses at Lake Forest (Ill.) in a non-conference doubleheader.
 
The Warhawks (10-4 overall) held a two-run lead late in the second game before falling 4-3. The team was defeated by the Foresters (9-9) by a 7-0 score in the opener.
 
In the nightcap, UW-Whitewater entered the bottom of the seventh with a 3-1 lead thanks to a pair of two-out, run-scoring singles by freshman third baseman Meg Cohrs (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) in the first and seventh innings and a bases-loaded walk by senior right fielder Haley Morelli (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) in the top of the fifth.
 
Lake Forest loaded the bases with one out and drew a walk to narrow its deficit to one run and knocked a two-run single to earn the win in walk-off fashion.
 
Freshman Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield) dropped to 4-3 for the season in the loss, posting six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings of work.
 
Sophomore left fielder Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) tallied two hits and scored two runs to help lead the offense in the contest.
 
In the first game, the Foresters took control with a five-run bottom of the fifth inning. Sophomore Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) suffered her first loss of the season, working four innings before being relieved by freshman Kylie Hoffman (Spring Green, Wis./River Valley), who pitched the final two frames.
 
Klotz and Cohrs registered the lone hits in the game for the Warhawks.
 
UW-Whitewater opens its home schedule and its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference slate this Saturday at 2 p.m. against UW-La Crosse at van Steenderen Softball Complex.