Box Score Spring in Wisconsin this year feels like Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and the No. 22 Carthage College softball team (30-11) stayed alive in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship on Friday, May 10 by eliminating the Upper Peninsula's Finlandia University (25-8), 10-2, in Great Lakes Regional play at Wisconsin-Whitewater's Van Steenderen Softball Diamond in Whitewater, Wis.  With the game-time wind chill in Whitewater was in the upper 30s, Carthage second baseman Bryanna Heckel (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central) set a Carthage game record and tied an NCAA championship mark with three home runs.
 
The Lady Reds, seeded fourth in the regional, lost their first-round game on Thursday, May 9, 6-4, to fifth-seeded and No. 18 Luther College (29-9).  On the same side of the eight-team regional bracket, top-seeded and No. 11 Wisconsin-Whitewater (32-5) defeated eighth-seeded Finlandia (25-7), 6-1, in Thursday's first game.  On the other side of the bracket, CCIW-member and sixth-seeded North Central College (33-10) knocked off third-seeded and No. 24 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (26-8), 12-10, on Thursday, with second-seeded, CCIW-member and No. 21 Illinois Wesleyan University (32-9) outlasting seventh-seeded Benedictine University (Ill., 26-13), 7-6, on Friday, May 10. 

Wisconsin-Eau Claire (27-8) eliminated Benedictine (Ill., 26-14), 5-1, in Friday's third game, with Luther (30-9) edging Wisconsin-Whitewater (32-6) by a 5-4 margin..  On Saturday, May 11, North Central (Ill., 34-10) defeated Illinois Wesleyan (32-10), 7-4, and Wisconsin-Eau Claire (28-8) eliminated Wisconsin-Whitewater (32-7), 4-0.  Carthage (30-11) plays Illinois Wesleyan (32-10) at 2 p.m.  This will be the fourth meeting this year between the Lady Reds and the Titans, who won the two regular-season games before losing to Carthage in CCIW Softball Tournament. 

At 4:30 p.m., Luther (30-9) takes on North Central (Ill., 34-10) in the battle between the two undefeated teams.  Saturday's fifth game, if played today, features the Carthage-Illinois Wesleyan winner versus Wisconsin-Eau Claire (28-8).
 
In Carthage's win over Finlandia, Bryanna Heckel hit the first pitch of the game for a home run to dead centerfield.  Carthage then put two runners on base, and Abby Hanson hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 in the top of the first inning.  Finlandia got a run back in the bottom of the first, but an RBI-double by Jen Precht in the second made it 3-1.  Finlandia cut the lead to 3-2 in the third on a solo home run by Kari Jewett. 

The Lady Reds put up a five-spot in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead.. Bryanna Heckel connected on her second home run of the game, this one a two-run shot.  Vicki Pyan singled in a run, and Abby Hanson hit a two-run homer.  With two outs in the fifth, Bryanna Heckel, who entered the game with two home runs all year, hit her third of the game, this also a two-run job, to put Carthage up by eight runs, 10-2.  The Lions put two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth but did not score, and the game ended on an eight-run rule.
 
Heckel's three home runs set a Carthage game record.  The existing mark of two homers was first set by Amanda Rodriguez versus North Park University on April 17, 1999 and subsequently matched eight other times.  The three home runs also tied an NCAA Division III Softball Championship record set by the College of New Jersey's Michelle Carlson against Kean University on May 12, 1995. Heckel went four-for-four and drove in five runs, and Abby Hanson (Jr., Winthrop Harbor, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) had three RBI. 

Pitcher Krystina Leazer (Sr., Des Plaines, Ill., Elk Grove, 22-5) was the beneficiary of Carthage's 10-hit, four-home run onslaught.  Leazer allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits, a walk and five strikeouts over five innings.  Miranda Brewer (10-3) took the loss.
 
"When we hit the ball, like we did today," said Carthage coach Amy Gillmore, "we have a very good chance of winning.  Bryanna Heckel set the tone today by hitting a home run on the first pitch of the game.  Instead of settling for one or two runs, we built on that and got quite a few more.  If we hit, we have a chance to go as far as our bats will take us.  Krystina Leazer has been off her game a little, and the weather today was no different than what we've had at home all year.  Who we're playing next, or when, doesn't really matter.  Whoever we play, we have to beat to keep playing.  All the teams left are really good, and the team that makes a mistake will be the one going home.  We've played pretty defense so far, and the pitching has been OK.  We'll have to mix up Krystina Leazer with Tina Campbell the rest of the way, since there's a lot of games left to win, if we want to make it to Sunday or Monday."