Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (25-3, 5-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 25th in the April 11 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, swept a Tuesday, April 17 doubleheader from CCIW-opponent North Central College (12-14, 1-7 CCIW), 3-2 and 9-1, at the Carthage Softball Field in Kenosha, Wis.  Carthage is tied for first place in the league with Illinois Wesleyan University.
 
Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener on an RBI-single by Vicki Pyan.  Taylor Ryan's first home run of the year and only her second RBI, in the second inning, tied the game, 1-1.  Ryan's RBI-single in the fourth put the Cardinals up, 2-1.  North Central pitcher Vlasta Mangia blanked Carthage after the first inning until the Lady Reds finally broke through with the tying run in seventh.  Bryanna Heckel led off with a single and stole second base.  With one out, pinch-hitter Corinne Sheley singled home Heckel with the tying run.  The next batter, Olivia Scott, singled to left, with both Scott and Sheley taking an extra base when leftfielder Carly Trenhaile bobbled the ball.  Getting Sheley to third turned out to be the winning ticket, as Alyse Mikolas drove her home with a sacrifice fly for the game-winning run. 

Starting pitcher Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove) was the beneficiary of the Carthage rally.  Leazer upped her record to 16-1 by limiting the Cardinals to two runs on four hits and a walk over seven innings, while striking out five.  Vlasta Mangia (8-9) took the loss.
 
Carthage took an early, 3-0 lead in the second inning of the nightcap.  Olivia Scott hit a solo home run, and Corinne Sheley and Katie Morman followed with run-scoring singles. The Lady Reds tallied three more in the in the third to make it 6-0.  Alyssa Schrader hit a two-run homer, her ninth of the year, and Abby Hanson followed with an RBI-single.  Carthage went up, 8-0, in the fourth on a two-run homer by Vicki Pyan.  North Central scored a run in the fifth to stave off the eight-run rule, but Pyan's second home run of the game, and her sixth of the year, restored the eight-run margin. 

The Cardinals put two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth but were unable to push a run across, and Carthage won with the eight-run rule.  Krystina Leazer and Vlasta Mangia (8-10) both started the second game.  Leazer (17-1) was the winning pitcher, and she limited North Central to one run on five hits and a walk.  Leazer is just two wins short of tying her own 2011 season record of 19 wins. Her last loss was to St. Gregory's University on March 23, and she's won 10 games in a row since then.
 
The Lady Reds collected 12 hits in the nightcap.  Vicki Pyan (So., Crystal Lake, Ill./South) went three-for-four with the two home runs and three RBI.  Katie Morman (Fr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) had three hits in four trips with an RBI.  On Thursday, April 19, the Lady Reds travel to Chicago to take on conference-opponent North Park University (19-11, 2-4 CCIW) in a 3 p.m. twinbill at the Holmgren Athletic Complex.