MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The No. 18 Carthage College softball team fought hard against No. 16 MSOE to start the 2021 season but fell to the Raiders 7-6 and 2-0 in non-conference action on Friday at MSOE Athletic Field. 

In game one, Carthage (0-2) broke the scoreless tie in the fourth as Makenzie Miller hit an RBI single and senior Ellie Bernero followed that up with an RBI single to right center giving the Firebirds a 2-0 advantage. An RBI double by Donna Stevens in the fifth put the visitors up three however, MSOE (2-0) responded in the bottom half with five runs taking control of the game 5-3. Stevens singled to right field in the seventh which allowed Reagan Goluch to score, shrinking the deficit to one. A Raiders wild pitch allowed Bella Spittler to come across the plate and later, an RBI single from Miller flipped the score to 6-5 in favor of Carthage. The Raiders plated a lone run in the seventh, knotting the game at six. In the bottom of the eighth, MSOE won with a walk-off RBI single 7-6. 

The Raiders scored in the first to go up 2-0 to start game two. Though the Firebirds had a runner on second in the top of the sixth, MSOE went on to take the game 2-0. 

Carthage stays on the road facing Benedictine on Tuesday, March 23 with game one starting at 3 p.m. 
 

Head Coach Amy Gillmore

"We have to clean up our defense and be more consistent at the plate. It was good to finally start our season." 
 

Quick Facts

• Recording seven strikeouts in game one, senior Stefanie Guercio moved to fourth on the all-time strikeouts list. 
• Donna Stevens and Makenzie Miller each tallied three hits in game one and two runs batted in. 
• Madison Kern had two hits while Angie Stepanski had a triple and a stolen base in game one. 
• Alaina Azar, Bella Spittler, Izzy Hernandez, and Stevens each had one hit in game two. 
• In the circle for game two, Ellie Bernero struck out seven batters over six innings of work.  

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