Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College softball team (12-6, 3-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) swept a Monday, April 7 doubleheader from CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 12-10, 0-4 CCIW), 3-0 and 5-3, at Ruth Leedy Field in Wheaton, Ill.
 
Carthage took a 2-0 lead in the third inning of the opener on a two-run home run by Corinne Sheley (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley).  Vicky Pyan (Sr., Crystal Lake, Ill./South) doubled in an unearned run in the seventh to give the Lady Reds a 3-0 lead.  Carthage pitcher Makenzie Walker (Fr., Kenosha, Wis./Bradford, 4-1) twirled a four-hit shutout.  She walked one batter and struck out four.  Katie Thornton (4-5) limited the Lady Reds to four hits, but she walked seven and struck out five.
 
The two teams traded runs in the first inning of the nightcap.  The Thunder struck first on a single and a pair of infield errors.  The Lady Reds scored in the bottom half on an RBI-triple by Darian Pelsor (Fr., Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook).  Pelsor hit a two-run double in the third, and Katie Morman followed with an RBI-single, and Carthage led by three runs, 4-1.  Wheaton scored two runs in the fourth to make it a 4-3 contest.  Corinne Sheley drove in a run in the bottom of the fourth to up the Carthage margin to 5-3.  Pelsor went two-for-three with three RBI, with Sheley and Pyan both collecting two hits in three trips. 
 
Darian Pelsor (1-3) was the winning pitcher.  She allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits over four innings.  Makenzie Walker blanked the Thunder on one hit over the final three frames to earn her first save and dropped her season earned run average to 0.80.  Marissa Voss (2-3), the first-of-three Wheaton pitcher took the loss.  Voss surrendered the first four runs on seven hits over two and one-third innings.
 
On Wednesday, April 9, the Lady Reds travel to Bloomington, Ill., to take on conference-opponent and No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan University (17-4, 4-2 CCIW) in a 3 p.m. twinbill at the Illinois Wesleyan Softball Field.