Box Score

The Carthage College softball team (25-14) lost to No. 4 Luther College (39-5), 2-1, on Friday, May 14 in a second-round game in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional at Wisconsin-Whitewater's Van Steenderen Diamond in Whitewater, Wis. 

Carthage opened regional-play on Thursday, May 13 with a 4-0 win over Alma College (30-10). The Lady Reds play a 10 a.m. elimination game on Saturday, May 15 against No. 16 Wisconsin-La Crosse (37-8). The Eagles were a 4-1 winner over the University of Redlands (32-14) in Friday's third game after losing to Aurora University (36-7), 4-3, in Friday morning's first-round game. St. Norbert College (31-7) eliminated Alma College (30-11), 4-2, in Friday's second game. In Friday's fifth-and-final game, Aurora (36-7) was leading Augustana (Ill., 31-13), 6-4, when the game was suspended, on account of darkness, in the eighth inning. Play will resume on Saturday at 9 a.m.

In other first-round action on Thursday, May 13, top-seeded Luther (38-5) defeated eighth-seeded St. Norbert College (30-7), 5-1, and sixth-seeded and CCIW-member Augustana College (Ill., 31-13) upset third-seeded and No. 30 the University of Redlands (34-13), 4-3.

In the Carthage-Luther game, the Lady Reds' Alyssa Schrader broke a scoreless tie in the second with a solo home run down the leftfield line. The Lady Reds loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third, but Norse hurler Lexy Determan induced harmless fly ball to shortstop from Kari Peterson to end the threat. Meanwhile, Carthage pitcher Kelsey Epping cruised through the first five innings, allowing only a single to the second batter in the game, Kelsey Hake, and a walk, while striking out 10 batters.

In the sixth, with two outs, Epping walked Hake and gave up a single to Lauran Snyder. A fielding error by second baseman Meghan Roman loaded the bases, but Epping got Abby Christian on a pop to shortstop to end the inning. In the Luther seventh, Kelsey Kittleson flied to center, Shari Huber hit a soft single to left, and Bre Twait walked. Kayla Denner popped to third for the second out, but Anna Simonson hit a 1-0 pitch down the rightfield line for a two-run triple and a 2-1 Luther lead. In the Carthage seventh, Katie Paulmeyer flied to center, Meghan Roman struck out swinging and pinch-hitter Stephanie Schaefer fouled out to third to end the game.

Kim Lambert (20-3), the second Luther pitcher, picked up the win by shutting out Carthage on two hits over the last four innings. Kelsey Epping (14-8) took the loss. She allowed two runs on four hits and three walks, while striking out 11 batters. Alyssa Schrader went two-for-two for the Lady Reds. 

“We had opportunities,” said Carthage coach Amy Gillmore, “and Kelsey Epping pitched a great game. I think we're every bit as good as Luther, even though they're ranked fourth in the country. We didn't get the bunts down or the key hits that would have given Kelsey some breathing room, and then the one big hit killed us in the seventh. It was a heartbreaker. If we play good ball, we can compete against anyone in this regional. Now, we just have to do it the hard way.”