CLERMONT, Fla. – The Carthage College Lady Reds softball team opened their 2016 season Friday, going 1-1 on their opening day at The Spring Games 2016 at the National Training Center – Legends Way Ball Fields in Clermont, Florida.
 
The Lady Reds opened the day falling to Stevenson University, 11-8, before taking the second game of the day with a 3-0 shutout of D'Youville College.
 
In the first game, the Lady Reds found themselves down early as Stevenson jumped on Darian Pelsor for four runs in the first.  The Lady Reds bounced back in the second with four of their own to tie the game at 4-4 courtesy of Hailey Rothstein's first career hit with the Lady Reds in the second to score Vivian Juarez andShannon Walsh. 
 
However, the Mustangs answered immediately with three more in the third and from there the Lady Reds would have to fight from behind the rest of the way. 
 
Trailing 10-5 in the fifth, Carthage once again mounted a comeback with a three-run inning aided by a two-RBI double by Walsh, scoring Makenzie Walker and Aileen Szczepanski to cut the deficit to two.  It was the closest the Lady Reds could get as Stevenson tacked on a run in the top of the seventh as insurance to secure the 11-8 defeat.
 
The Lady Reds finished the game with 13 hits, including a team-high three by Juarez, but the three defensive errors and 18 hits by the Mustangs cost the Lady Reds the game.
 
"We made too many physical mistakes, errors and mental mistakes," said head coach Amy Gillmore on the game one loss.  "We didn't talk out there defensively and we let them take too many bases.  I think that if we had made the plays out there and backed our pitcher up, we win that game.  But I was happy with the hits that we had and our ability to fight back after trailing multiple times.  But overall too many mistakes."
 
Carthage learned from those mistakes in game two, allowing just two hits to D'Youville College in the Lady Reds' 3-0 win to split the day's action.
 
The Lady Reds, who outhit the Spartans 13-2, only managed three runs but controlled the game behind the pitching of junior Katie Herron.  In Herron's season debut, Katie struck out ten batters, walked four, hit one and allowed just the two hits as she recorded the complete game shutout for Carthage.
 
After escaping a second inning jam defensively, Carthage found their way on to the scoreboard twice as RBI's by Abby Thompson and Kayla Uhwat-Viciconda drove in Jennifer Michuda and Pelsor respectively.
 
Rothstein added an insurance run in the fifth to put the Lady Reds up 3-0 as a deep double to center scored Walsh.
 
Despite the dominant performance by Herron the Spartans found themselves with the tying run at the plate with two outs in the seventh.  But Herron got Lydia Monin to ground into a 4-3 putout to end the threat and the game giving Carthage their first win of 2016.
 
"Katie pitched a really good game!" noted Gillmore following the win.  "We need to cut down a little on the walks but obviously we did enough offensively to get the victory.  I think, with it being the first day overall, walking away with one win is nice.  But if we could have cut down on the mistakes in game one, we could have taken two.  A lot of positives came out of today and we know what we need to work on."
 
The Lady Reds are back in action at the Legends Way Ballfields down in Clermont with two games Saturday, March 19th, beginning with the College of Scholastica at 1:00 PM, ET followed by Bates College at 3:00 PM, ET.