Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (23-7, 10-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 21st in the April 24 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, swept a Wednesday, April 24 doubleheader from CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (14-12, 1-9 CCIW), 2-0 in eight innings and 6-3, at Salt Creek Park in Elmhurst, Ill.  The Lady Reds remain one game ahead of second-place Illinois Wesleyan University (26-7, 7-3) in the loss column. 
 
In the opening game, the Lady Reds broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the eighth inning.  Olivia Scott singled in the go-ahead run, and Kacie Cecchi was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the second run.  Krystina Leazer (Sr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove) upped her record to 15-3 by twirling a five-hit shutout over eight innings.  Tiffany Potthast (7-8) took the loss.  Scott and Alyse Mikolas each had two hits for Carthage.
 
Carthage jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap, with Olivia Scott (So., Plainfield, Ill./Central) hitting a two-run homer.  Elmhurst got a run back in the second, but Amy Slattery tripled in a run in the third to give the Lady Reds a 4-1 edge.  The Bluejays scored in the third and the fourth to cut the lead to 4-3, but Carthage scored twice in the fifth to go up, 6-3. 

Amy Slattery (Sr., Tinley Park, Ill./New Lenox-Providence Catholic) went three-for-three with two RBI.  Pitcher Tina Campbell (Jr., St. Petersburg, Fla./Lakewood, 8-4) got the win by limiting Elmhurst to three runs, two earned, on nine hits over four innings.  Krystina Leazer blanked the Bluejays on three hits over the final three frames to earn her second save. 

On Thursday, April 25, the Lady Reds travel to Chicago for a 3 p.m. non-conference twinbill versus the University of Chicago (13-13) at the Stagg Field Complex.