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The Carthage College softball team (37-9, 11-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 21st in the May 9 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, just refuses to lose at
the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Softball Regional Championship.  The Lady Reds won their second and third-straight elimination games on Saturday, May 12 by knocking off No. 22 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (33-14), 4-1, and Anderson University (32-12) by a 6-1 margin at the Illinois Wesleyan University Softball Field in Bloomington, Ill.  Carthage won a 1-0 elimination game over Benedictine University (Ill., 33-11) on Friday, May 11 after losing a first-round game, 9-1, to Anderson (31-10) on Thursday, May 10, 
 
Top-seeded and No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan (37-6) defeated eighth-seeded St. Norbert College (17-19), 4-1, in Thursday's first game, with by fourth-seeded and No. 22 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (33-12) defeating fifth-seeded Fontbonne University (27-11), 6-1.  Second-seeded, defending-national-champion and No. 3 Linfield College (39-5) blanked seventh-seeded Benedictine University (Ill., 33-10), 3-0, in the final first-round contest. 
 
On Friday, May 11, St. Norbert (18-19) eliminated Fontbonne (27-12), 7-0; Illinois Wesleyan (38-6) edged Wisconsin-Eau Claire (33-13), 2-1; and Linfield (40-5) shut out  Anderson (31-11), 8-0.  On Saturday, Anderson (32-11) eliminated St. Norbert (18-20), 1-0, despite a complete-game no-hitter by the Green Knights' Stephanie Schmitt, and Linfield (41-5) blanked Illinois Wesleyan (37-7), 3-0, in the undefeated game. 
 
Carthage is now among the three teams left standing at the regional, which continues on Sunday, May 13 with the Lady Reds playing Illinois Wesleyan (37-7) in a Noon semifinal game.  The Carthage-Illinois Wesleyan winner advances to take on Linfield (41-5) in the championship round, beginning at 2 p.m.  Should Linfield lose in the 2 p.m. contest, a final game would be necessary on Monday morning at 10 a.m. to settle the regional championship.  This is the farthest a Carthage softball team has ever advanced in regional play.  The 2010 team won its first game in Whitewater, Wis., before losing the next two.
 
After two scoreless innings in the Anderson game, Carthage erupted for five runs in the third, capitalizing on two key Anderson errors.  With Katie Morman on first and one out, Jen Precht hit a grounder back to Ravens pitcher Devin Moorman.  Moorman threw the ball into centerfield, allowing Morman, who had rounded the bag at second, to scamper back safely.  Caris Alan ran for Morman, and Vicki Pyan followed with a double to score Alan.  With two outs, Abby Hanson doubled in Precht and Pyan.  Olivia Scott then hit a single to left, and Hanson scored when Anderson catcher Stephanie Atkins dropped the ball at the plate after tagging Hanson out.  Scott then advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Bryanna Heckel for the fifth run of the inning.  The Ravens got a run back in the fourth, but Olivia Scott's RBI-single in the fifth gave Carthage a 6-1 lead to close out the scoring.
 
Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove) improved her record to 28-6 by limiting Anderson to one run on seven hits and two walks over seven innings, while striking out five batters.  Devin Moorman (10-6) took the loss.  Olivia Scott (Fr., Plainfield, Ill./Central) went three-for-three and Bryanna Heckel (So., Kenosha, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central) two-for-three.
 
In the Lady Reds' win over UW-Eau Claire, Carthage jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second.  With one out, Olivia Scott singled up the middle.  She advanced to second on a wild pitch from Ashley Meinen, and with one out, took third on another wild pitch.  Corinne Sheley singled up the middle to score Scott, and Alyse Mikolas doubled down the leftfield line to score Sheley.  The Lady Reds made it 4-0 in the third.  Vicki Pyan singled with one out, and Alyssa Schrader followed with a booming, two-run homer to left, her 14th of the year.  The Blugolds got a run back in the fourth and threatened to add more.  Sarah Fern singled in a run to make it 4-1, and Wisconsin-Eau Claire proceeded to load the bases with two outs against Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove), who got Deanne Gilane on a called third strike to end the inning.
 
That ended the scoring, with Leazer improving to 27-6 with a five-hut, one-run effort, walking two and striking out eight.  Ashley Meinen (12-6) took the loss by surrendering five runs, four earned, on five hits.  Corinne Sheley (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Alyse Mikolas (So., Kenosha, Wis./Bradford) each had two hits for Carthage.

”That first game against Anderson on Thursday just wasn't us,” said Carthage coach Amy Gillmore.  “Since then, this team has responded offensively and defensively, and Krystina Leazer has been lights out.  Slowly but surely, we're getting the bats going.  I think Anderson took us lightly because we played so bad on Thursday, but today we showed them and Wisconsin-Eau Claire what we can do.  Getting some runs early against Wisconsin-Eau Claire really helped Krystina Leazer to relax and pitch her game.  It also gave our defense some feeling that we had room for error.  The big inning against Anderson was just a reversal of Thursday's game—this time it was us capitalizing on their mistakes.  We had some great hits in that inning to take advantage of their errors.  Right now, we're playing the kind of Carthage softball that got us to the regional in the first place.  We'll pitch Leazer again tomorrow against Illinois Wesleyan and go from there.”

In the Lady Reds' win over Benedictine, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.  After Olivia Scott reached base on a throwing error by Eagles third baseman Lucy Poro, Bryanna Heckel and Corinne Sheley followed by singles, the latter scoring Scott.  Carthage pitcher Krystina Leazer (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove), looking considerably sharper than she did on Thursday against Anderson, faced her only real threat in the fifth inning.  Chelsea White singled back to the mound to open the frame and went to second on a bunt, but Leazer got Kelly Mieszala swinging on a high third strike and Brittany Wolski on a ground ball to end the inning. 

The lone Carthage run was all Leazer needed.  She gave up two singles in the first inning, two in the third and the single to White in the fifth, along with one walk, and she struck out six to improve to 26-6.  Brittany Adcox (24-5) took the loss.  Corinne Sheley (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) had two of the Lady Reds' four hits.

“We had a case of the nerves yesterday,” admitted Carthage coach Amy Gillmore.  “Today, everybody knew it was win or go home.  We didn't make any defensive mistakes.  We could have made better contact at the plate, but Krystina Leazer pitched one heck of a game.  If she can keep pitching like that, and if we get the bats going, we can still make a run at this thing.  We sure could have used some better execution or big hit to get us going, but we kept Benedictine off base and held their speed in check.  As bad as we played on Thursday, we played well today.  When we needed a big pitch, Krystina Leazer gave it to us.  We want the ball in her hands in big games, and we'll go as far as she takes us.  I don't care if we have to play Illinois Wesleyan again tomorrow, if it works out that way.  As long as we're still playing.”
 
In Carthage's first-round loss, Anderson took a 2-0 lead in the second inning.  After Stephanie Atkins reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Abby Hanson, Megan Ream launched a two-run homer to left-center field.  The Ravens scored three times in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.  Natalie Moorhouse hit a two-run double to score Samantha Steele from third and Amy Wuestefeld all the way from first.  With two outs, Lauren Smith singled up the middle to score Moorhouse. 
 
In the sixth, it looked like Carthage had a chance to get back in the game.  Anderson coach Tony Holloway pulled starting pitcher Monica Crowe to start the inning, perhaps to save her for a second-round game.  Crowe had stifled the Lady Reds on two singles and two walks through the first five innings.  With reliever Devin Moorman on the hill, Carthage finally got on the scoreboard on a solo home run by Vicki Pyan to lead off the inning.  The Lady Reds proceeded to load the bases with two outs, but pinch-hitter Randi Rederer struck out swinging to end the inning.  Moorhouse, aiding her own cause, led off the seventh with a solo home run down the leftfield line to up Anderson's lead to 6-1.  The Ravens then put two runners on with one out, and Megan Ream hit a three-run homer to close out the scoring at 9-1.
 
Carthage pitcher Krystina Leazer  (Jr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 25-6) struggled, allowing five runs, four earned, on nine hits over five innings.  Alyssa Schrader (Sr., Plainfield, Ill./South) worked the final two frames and surrendered four runs on five hits and a walk.  Crowe (19-2) was the winning pitcher.  Anderson collected 14 hits, with Megan Ream going two-for-four with five RBI.  Natalie Moorhouse went two-for-three with two runs scored and three RBI.  The Lady Reds managed only four hits against the two Raven hurlers.

“I knew Anderson was a pretty good team,” said Carthage coach Amy Gillmore, “and we picked the wrong day not to play very well.  We didn't play well defensively, we didn't pitch well, and we didn't make the adjustments at the plate that we need to.  We needed to move up in the batter's box against their pitchers, and we didn't do that until the sixth inning.  We had runners in scoring position a few times, especially in the sixth, but just didn't do anything to help our cause.  We just never got the key hit that we needed.  I was surprised when Anderson changed pitchers.  Monica Crowe was dominating us.  That move could have backfired for them, but we didn't adjust.  Anderson got the big hits when they needed them, and we didn't.  When we made a mistake, the capitalized.  I didn't think Krystina Leazer pitched all that bad, but Anderson used their speed to execute their game.  All eight teams are good, and we didn't have our A-game today.  We'll need it tomorrow against either Linfield or Benedictine.”

 Carthage is making its making its third NCAA appearance.  Coach Amy Gillmore's 1998 team went 0-2 at the Great Lakes Regional in Eau Claire, Wis., and last year's team went 1-2 at the Great Lakes Regional in Whitewater, Wis.
 
Looking at the NCAA Regional Field:  Tony Holloway (116-86, 5 years) coaches the Anderson University Ravens (30-10) who won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament with a win over Manchester College.  Last year's team went 1-2 at the Central Regional in Pella, Iowa, in the school's fifth NCAA appearance.  Carthage leads the Anderson series, 2-0, with the Lady Reds winning games at 2007 and 2011 "Florida Rebel Games" in Kissimmee, Fla.…Steve King (155-54, 6 years) coaches the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans, who won the CCIW Softball Tournament with a 7-5 win over Carthage.  The two teams shared this year's CCIW title.  The Titans are making their 11th NCAA appearance, with the 2003 team finishing third.  Illinois Wesleyan leads the Carthage series, 42-19…JoAnn Krueger (273-233-1, 15 years) coaches the St. Norbert College Knights (17-18), who won the Midwest Conference Softball Tournament with a win over Carroll University (Wis.) in the title game.  The Knights are making their fourth NCAA appearance.  The Carthage-St. Norbert series is knotted up at 3-3…Leslie Huntington (315-161, 11 years) coaches the Wisconsin-Ea Claire Blugolds (32-12), who received an at-large berth after losing to Wisconsin-River Falls in the semifinals of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament.  The Blugolds are making their 10th NCAA appearance, and the 2008 team won the national title in Salem, Va.  Carthage and Wisconsin-Eau Claire have split two contests at the "Florida Rebel Games, one in 1998 and the other in 1999.  Carthage appeared in the 1998 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional in Eau Claire, Wis., but the two teams did not play each other. …Bill Rosner (101-55, 4 years) coaches the Fontbonne University Griffins (27-10), who won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament over Webster University.  The Griffins are making their sixth NCAA appearance.  Carthage leads the Fontbonne series, 1-0, with the only other meeting coming at the 2007 "Florida Rebel Games."…Jackson Vaughan (368-86-1, 10 years) coaches  defending-national-champion Linfield College Wildcats (38-5), who won their ninth-straight Northwest Athletic Conference title this year.  Linfield is making its ninth NCAA appearance.  In addition to last year's national title, the 2007 squad finished first, and the 2010 team was second.  This would be the first meeting between Carthage and Linfield…Kate Keller (374-208-2, 14 years) coaches the Benedictine University (Ill.) Eagles (33-9), who won the Northern Athletics Conference Softball Tournament over Aurora University.  The Eagles are making their 11th NCAA appearance.  Benedictine (Ill.) leads the Carthage series, 7-1.