CLERMONT, Fla. – Carthage College's women's softball team continued their spring break Sunday with their third doubleheader in as many days; as the Lady Reds went 1-1 on the afternoon with loss to St. Catherine University in the day's opener before crushing the University of Maine-Farmington in the nightcap.
 
The Lady Reds are now 4-3 on the season, while St. Kate's improved to 5-0 and Farmington dropped to 1-2 in 2016.
 
Katie Herron picked up where she left off from Saturday, holding the Wildcats scoreless through the first five innings on her way to a season-best 12 strikeouts by a Lady Reds pitcher.  
 
Unfortunately for the Lady Reds, St. Catherine's Kailee Berquam was every bit as good as Herron and through five innings only allowing a single hit to Shannon Walsh in the first inning.  It would prove to be the Lady Reds' lone hit in the game as Berquam and Krista Flugstad combined to face just three over the minimum.
 
"I thought both starting pitchers threw excellent games today," said head coach Amy Gillmore.  "They used small-ball with bunts and a blooper to capitalize on their key chances and we did not.  Obviously they were able to tack on another run to put it away because one hit for us didn't do anything for us.  We were able to put a runner in scoring position and didn't get the hit we needed and that was the difference in the game."
 
St. Kate's broke the tie in the top of the sixth as a leadoff walk to the Wildcats' Megan Lindenfelser eventually proved to be the difference as she came around to score an unearned run in the inning.  The Wildcats would add an insurance run in the seventh inning to seal the 2-0 win over the Lady Reds.
 
The Lady Reds did not have the same problem in the second game of day as the Carthage bats were on fire, erupting for 23 runs on 21 hits, including 11 extra-base hits, in a 23-1 rout of UM-Farmington.
 
Following the game Gillmore noted, "The bats had been working for us this week so far with the exception of the early game today, and that is going to happen when you come across a really good pitcher.  I think our bats will eventually come alive like they did today against the good pitchers.  But I liked the adjustments our girls made and I hope we will do that moving forward against the better teams and more importantly in conference.  But it was nice to get the bats working in game two and to be able to get everyone in the game."
 
The Lady Reds ignited for eight runs in the first and ten in the second to jump out to a dominant 18-0 lead through two. 
 
The lead was more than enough for junior pitcher Darian Pelsor who went five innings allowing just one unearned run on four hits.  Pelsor was also one of the top offensive threats for Carthage in the game, going 4-for-4 with five RBIs, three doubles and scoring four runs.
 
Freshman Hailey Rothstein had her best game of her young career in the cleanup spot, collecting three hits, a team-high six RBIs and her first career homerun as the frontend of a pair of back-to-back jacks with Pelson.
 
Shannon Walsh extended her season-long hitting streak to six games as she collected a game-high five hits in the game, just one off of the Carthage single-game record.
 
The Lady Reds will now get a day off to enjoy their Florida spring break before returning to the Legends Way Ballfields for games with Buena Vista University and Fontbonne University on Tuesday, March 22nd.