The Carthage College softball team (5-9, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) split a Tuesday, March 31 doubleheader with Concordia University (Ill., 2-11) at the Concordia Softball Field in River Forest, Ill.  The Lady Reds won the first game, 7-5, before losing the nightcap, 5-3.
 
Carthage broke a 2-2 tie in the opening game with two runs in the fourth inning, both scoring on a double by Makenzie Walker.  The Cougars scored two in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game, 4-4.  A sacrifice fly by Tiffani Palmatier and a two-run double by Walker gave the Lady Reds a 7-4 lead in the fifth.  Concordia scored a run the fifth to make it a 7-5 contest, and that closed out the scoring. 

Carthage pitcher Makenzie Walker (So., Kenosha, Wis./Bradford. 1-4) went the distance to win her first game in five starts this year.  Walker, who also drove in four runs, allowed five runs, just two earned, on five hits and a walk, while striking out five batters.  The Lady Reds' Darian Pelsor (So., Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) went three-for-three.  Alicia Salata (0-5), the second-of-three Cougar hurlers, took the loss.
 
Concordia took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap, scoring a pair of unearned runs on two hits and two Carthage errors.  The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the second to go up by a 5-0 margin.  The Lady Reds scored three times in the sixth, including a two-run single by Pelsor.  Meghan Johnson (1-3) was the winning pitcher for the Cougars, and she allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits.  Jessica Kirby (So., Bartlett, Ill., 2-3) took the loss and gave up five runs, three earned, on eight hits over six innings.
 
Carthage opens its CCIW-schedule on Thursday, April 2 by playing host to North Park University (2-12, 0-2 CCIW) in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at the Carthage Softball Field in Kenosha, Wis.