Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (32-6, 11-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 19th in the April 25 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, split a Sunday, April 29 doubleheader with non-conference opponent the University of Chicago (23-9) at the Carthage Softball Field in Kenosha, Wis.  Carthage won the first game, 5-4, but lost the nightcap by a 7-3 margin.
 
Carthage took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener on a sacrifice fly by Alyssa Schrader and an unearned run.  Chicago got a run back in the second on a home run by Liz Payonk.  The Lady Reds took a 5-1 lead in the fifth.  The first run in the inning scored on an error, and Abby Hanson followed with a two-run double.  The Maroons made things interesting in the seventh, scoring three times off starting pitcher Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 23-3), who allowed four runs in the game on eight hits and walk, while striking out seven batters.  Kim Cygan (13-4) took the loss.  Randi Rederer (Fr., Bristol, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central) went two-for-three for the Lady Reds.
 
Jen Precht's two-run single in the second inning gave Carthage a 2-0 lead in the nightcap.  Chicago scored two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and four in the sixth to take a 7-2 lead off starting pitcher Alyssa Schrader (Sr., Plainfield, Ill./South, 9-3) and reliever Krystina Leazer.  The Lady Reds managed just one more run, that coming on an RBI-double by Corinne Sheley in the seventh inning.  Schrader surrendered six runs, five earned, on 10 hits and two walks over five and one-third innings.  Corinne Sheley (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Bryanna Heckel (So., Kenosha, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central) and Katie Morman (Fr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) each had two hits for Carthage.

Carthage opens play in the CCIW Softball Tournament on Friday, May 4 versus Millikin University (22-16) in a first-round game at the Illinois Wesleyan Softball Field in Bloomington, Ill., beginning at 10 a.m.  Top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan (33-6) will play fourth-seeded Elmhurst College (25-14) at Noon on Friday in the other first-round game.