Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (28-4, 8-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 24th in the April 18 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, split a Saturday, April 21 doubleheader with CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (20-11, 4-4 CCIW) at the Carthage Softball Field in Kenosha, Wis.  Elmhurst won the opening game, 3-0, but Carthage came back to claim the nightcap by a 7-4 margin.  The Lady Reds are one game behind league-leading Illinois Wesleyan University (27-4, 5-1 CCIW) in the loss column.
 
In the opening game, Elmhurst tallied a run in the second inning when Tiffany Potthast led off with a single, advanced two bases on a couple of ground balls and scored from third base on a passed ball.  The Bluejays added two runs in the fifth on an RBI-double by Sarah Cademartori and a run-scoring single by Rose Wysocki.  Carthage pitcher Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 18-2) was stuck with her first loss since losing to St. Gregory's University on March 23.  Leazer surrendered three runs, two earned, on seven hits and one walk, while striking out eight batters.  Bluejays pitcher Lindsay Nauman (8-6) was even better, blanking the Lady Reds on three hits and two walks, while fanning six.
 
Elmhurst took a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the nightcap on back-to-back RBI-doubles by Clare Bukowski and Tiffany Potthast.  The Bluejays made it a 4-0 game in the third on a two-run double by Bukowski.  Carthage got three runs back in the fourth.  Abby Hanson and Bryanna Heckel both when a grounder off the bat of Alyse Mikolas went through the legs of Bluejays third baseman Sarah Cademartori.  Katie Morman followed with an RBI-single to score Mikolas. 

The Lady Reds took a 5-4 lead in the fifth on back-to-back solo home runs by Vicki Pyan and Alyssa Schrader, Pyan's seventh of the year and Schrader's 11th.  Schrader's home run tied a Carthage season record first set by Gina Buchmiller in 2006 and matched by Schrader in 2010.  Schrader's RBI-single in the sixth upped the Lady Reds' lead to 6-4, and Bryanna Heckel's solo homer in the seventh closed out the scoring at 7-4. 

Krystina Leazer, in relief of Alyssa Schrader, picked up the win to improve to 19-2 and in the process, tied her own 2011 season record with 19 wins.  Leazer blanked the Bluejays over the final three and two-thirds innings on one hit.  Stephanie Iori (9-5) was the losing pitcher.  Carthage's Bryanna Heckel (So., Kenosha, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central) went three-for-four, while Schrader and Katie Morman (Fr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) had two hits each. 

Carthage plays host to CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 22-8, 5-3 CCIW) on Sunday, April 22 in a Noon doubleheader, also at the Carthage Softball Field.