WHEATON, ILL.—The Carthage College softball team continued CCIW play with a Friday-afternoon doubleheader at Wheaton College, originally scheduled for Thursday before mother nature had other plans. Stefanie Guercio added 11 strikeouts to her resume in game one, leading the Lady Reds to a 5-2 win. Carthage couldn't answer back in a 6-3 loss in game two.
 
The Lady Reds exit Friday with a 16-6, 4-2 CCIW record while Wheaton sports a 14-14, 5-2 CCIW mark.
 
Lady Reds 5, Wheaton 2
 
Carthage jumped to a 4-0 lead over Wheaton after the opening five innings. Ellie Bernero drove-in Alexandra Millett with a first-inning single, which gave the Lady Reds a 1-0 lead. Carthage tacked on three fifth-inning runs, where Millett (single) and Alonzo (double) reached base to put runners on the corners. Danielle Koziczkowski (Millett's pinch runner) reached home on Makenzie Miller's fielder's choice to make the score 2-0. Courtney Polanski drove in Alonzo and Rylee Johnson (Miller's pinch runner) with a single to left field en route to a 4-0 Lady Reds lead.
 
Carthage put the finishing touches on their scoring in the seventh inning, where Alonzo's solo home run pushed the margin to 5-0. Wheaton tacked on a pair of seventh-inning runs to close the margin to 5-2.
 
Guercio improved to 10-2 on the season with her pitching performance, where she allowed eight hits, six walks and struckout 11 batters. Alonzo went 3-for-4 at the dish for Carthage.
 
Wheaton 6, Lady Reds 3
 
Wheaton's 4-0 lead through the top of the second inning was enough ammunition for Brooke Sefcik, who hit a solo home run for Carthage to narrow the score to 4-1. The fifth inning resulted in a Carthage run where Donna Stevens led off with a walk, reached second on Alonzo's walk and touched third on a wild pitch before she scored when Bernero reached on a fielder's choice to cut the score to 4-2.
 
The Thunder added two more runs in the sixth en route to a 6-2 lead. Alonzo led off the seventh with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored off Polanski's single to cut Wheaton's lead in half at 6-3.
 
Alonzo was tagged with the pitching loss, where she gave up seven hits over three innings of work. Bernero came in for the final four innings in the circle for the Lady Reds, allowing six hits and one walk.
 
The Lady Reds will face Augustana College (Ill.) (DH) in Rock Island, Illinois on Sunday, April 14 at 1:00 p.m.