Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (10-0, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), tied for 18th place in the March 21 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, ran its season-opening winning streak to 10 games on Thursday, March 22 with wins over Carleton College and Calvin College at Lincoln Park in Tucson, Ariz.  Carthage beat Carleton (1-10), 9-1, and won over Calvin (4-7) by a 9-4 margin in eight innings.
 
The 10-0 start is the best ever for the Lady Reds since the program began in 1968, and the winning streak is tied for the third-longest in program history behind a school-record 14-game streak in 2003 and a 13-game streak in 1990.  The 2004 team also enjoyed a 10-game winning streak.

In the Carleton game, Cathage scored a run in the first, three in the second, three in the third and two in the fourth to take a 9-1 lead in the five-inning game.  Bryanna Heckel (So., Kenosha, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central) hit a two-run double in the third, and Abby Hanson (So., Winthrop Harbor, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) went three-for-three with two runs scored, a double, a triple and two RBI.  Starting pitcher Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 6-0) picked up the win by limiting the Knights to one run over five innings on three hits, no walks and seven strikeouts.
 
Against Calvin, Carthage fell behind, 4-2, after three innings.  The Lady Reds scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to tie the game, 4-4 and send it into extra innings.  Carthage seemed to like the extra frame, as the Lady Reds exploded for five runs in the eighth inning to win the game, 9-4.  Alyssa Schrader (Sr., Plainfield, Ill./South) went three-for-three with a double and two RBI, while Katie Morman (Fr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) went three-for-five with a triple and an RBI.  Krystina Leazer (7-0), working in relief, was the winning pitcher.  Leazer blanked the Knights over the final five innings on no hits, two walks and 10 strikeouts.
 
The spring trip concludes on Friday, March 23 with games against NAIA St. Gregory's University (26-3) at 9 a.m., MST and Whitworth University (currently 11-15) at 11 a.m., MST.