Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College softball team kept its CCIW Tournament hopes alive by splitting a doubleheader with Carthage College. Carthage scored a 1-0 win in a pitchers' dual in game one, but Elmhurst salvaged the split by taking game two 9-5.

Elmhurst (15-23 overall) moved to 7-7 in CCIW play and kept its CCIW Tournament hopes alive with the split. The Bluejays need Millikin University to sweep a doubleheader from North Central College on Sunday (May 1) in order to qualify for the tournament.

CARTHAGE 1, ELMHURST 0 - Carthage used a solo homer in the fourth inning from Alyssa Schrader to score a 1-0 victory in game one.

The game was a pitchers' dual between Elmhurst's Stephanie Iori and Carthage's Krystina Leazer. The two pitchers combined to allow just three hits in a game that took only 56 minutes to complete.

Schrader blasted a solo homer in the the fourth to account for the game's only run.

Elmhurst put the leadoff batter on first to start the seventh inning, but the Bluejays left the tying run on second to end the game.

Leazer was dominant for Carthage (20-14, 10-4 CCIW), throwing a complete game shutout while allowing just one hit and one walk. She struck out eight Bluejays in the win.

Iori was the hard-luck loser for the Bluejays. Iori allowed only two hits and one run over seven innings. She didn't issue a walk and struck out two.

ELMHURST 9, CARTHAGE 5 - Clare Bukowski drove in four runs to spark the Bluejays to a 9-5 victory in game two.

Carthage brought Leazer back to start in game two, but the Bluejays jumped on the Lady Red's ace quickly. Bukowski blasted a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning to put Elmhurst up 2-0. Bukowski made it 3-0 Elmhurst in the third inning after she squeezed home Rose Wysocki who had tripled two batters earlier.

Carthage threatened in the bottom of the third as three straight hits made the score 3-1 and put the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Iori entered the game in relief of Lindsay Nauman and used a popout and a pair of strikeouts to end Carthage's scoring threat.

The Bluejays broke the game open in the fourth inning, chasing Leazer in the process. Bukowski doubled home Wysocki to put Elmhurst up 4-1. Katie Hruby followed with a bloop single to put runners on the corners with one out. Julie Devine laced a double of the wall in right field to drive in Bukowski and Hruby. Sarah Cademartori followed with a run-scoring single to give Elmhurst a 7-1 lead.

The Lady Reds scored a run in the fifth to cut the Bluejays' lead down to five, but Elmhurst responded with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Wyoscki doubled home a run and later stole home on a double steal to give the Bluejays a 9-2 lead.

Carthage used a pair of homers in the seventh to make the final score 9-5.

Bukowski finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and four driven in. Devine added two RBI while Wysocki collected three hits and scored three times.

Iori earned the win in relief for Elmhurst,. She worked four innings and allowed six hits and four runs while striking out three.