Carthage 3, Hope 1
Hope 14, Carthage 5
The Carthage College softball team (6-8, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) split a Tuesday, March 29 doubleheader with Hope College (12-5-1) at Wolters Stadium at the Ekdal J. Buys Athletic Complex in Holland, Mich. Carthage won the first game, 3-1, but the Lady Reds were drilled, 14-5, in the nightcap.
In the opening game, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Bryanna Heckel reached base on an infield error, advanced to second on a passed ball, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Vicki Pyan. The Lady Reds went up, 3-0, in the sixth on a solo home run by Alysa Mikolas and an RBI-double by Heckel. The Flying Dutch got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Andrea Reinecke. Krystina Leazer (So., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 6-2) was the winning pitcher. Leazer allowed one run on just four hits and two walks over seven innings, while striking out five batters. Michelle Marra (8-4) took the loss. Kari Peterson and Alyse Mikolas had two hit apiece for Carthage.
The second game was all Hope. The Flying Dutch scored three runs in the first inning, three in the second, five in the third and three more in the fourth. Alyssa Schrader (Jr., Plainfield, Ill../South, 0-3) was the losing pitcher, and she was followed by Alyssa Sirocchi (Fr., Oswego, Ill./Aurora-Rosary) in the second inning and Kari Peterson (Sr., Blooming Prairie, Minn.) in the fourth. Hope's Jo Forst led off both the second and third innings with solo home runs, and Kori Nieuwsma delivered a two-run single to cap the five-run third frame.
Hope collected 14 hits, including four doubles and two home runs, off the three Carthage pitchers. The Lady Reds scored in the second on a leadoff homer by Schrader and added four runs in the fifth on a grand slam by Stephanie Schafer (Jr., Burlington, Wis.). Hope pitcher Andrea Reinecke (4-1) was the recipient of the Flying Dutch onslaught, and she aided her own cause by going three-for-three with two doubles and three RBI.
Carthage travels to Lake Forest, Ill., on Wednesday, March 30 to play Lake Forest College (3-7) in a 3 p.m. twinbill at the Lake Forest Softball Field that was postponed on March 23.
