Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (26-8, 12-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 21st in the April 24 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, won the 2013 CCIW championship on Saturday, April 27 by sweeping a doubleheader from Millikin University (20-11, 5-7 CCIW), 1-0 and 10-3, at the Carthage Softball Field in Kenosha, Wis. 
The conference softball title is the fourth overall for the Lady Reds, their second in a row and their third outright championship.  Carthage shared the 2012 title with Illinois Wesleyan University.  With the conference title, Carthage will play host to the CCIW Softball Tournament on Friday-Saturday, May 3-4.
 
In the opening game, Carthage's Jen Precht (Sr., Antioch, Ill./Community) hit a two-out solo home run down the leftfield line to break a scoreless and hitless duel between Carthage pitcher Krystina Leazer (Sr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 17-3) and Millikin's Lauren Kitterman (12-5). 

Leazer struck out the first 13 batters she faced, 10 of those swinging, and wound up with a Carthage-record 17 whiffs as part of a four-hit shutout with no walks.  She broke a mark of 16 strikeouts set by Shannon Gysberg against the Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 29, 2003 and matched by Kelsey Epping versus Ripon College on April 1, 2010.   Leazer had a perfect game broken with one out in the fifth inning on a bunt single by Becca Thompson. 
 
In the nightcap, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-double by Katie Morman.  The Lady Reds had a chance for a bigger inning with the bases loaded and one out, but were unable to push anything else across.  The Big Blue also missed a scoring opportunity in the bottom half when they had a runner on third with one out but left her stranded.  Carthage scored four times in the second to take a 5-0 lead.  Vicki Pyan hit a two-run double and Abby Hanson a two-run single in the inning. 

In the third inning, the Big Blue's Alyssa Visvardis launched a two-out, three-run homer to left-center field to cut the lead to 5-3.  The Lady Reds batted around in the fourth and added four more runs to up their lead to 10-3.  Katie Morman and Abby Hanson hit RBI-singles in the fourth, followed by RBI-doubles by Olivia Scott and Amy Slattery.   
 
Carthge collected 11 hits in the second game, led by Katie Morman (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran), who went three-for-three with two runs scored, a double and two RBI.  Vicky Pyan (Jr., Crystal Lake, Ill./South) went two-for-three, also with two runs scored, a double and two RBI, while Abby Hanson (Jr., Winthrop Harbor, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) had two hits in three trips  with a double and a pair of RBI. 

Krystina Leazer pitched a complete game in the nightcap to up her record to 18-3.  She allowed three runs on four hits and no walks, while striking out nine batters.  Hillary Shelton (6-4) took the loss.
 
The Lady Reds wrap up their regular-season schedule on Sunday, April 28 with a 1 p.m. twinbill versus Lake Forest College (17-14) at the Lake Forest Softball Field in Lake Forest, Ill.