WAUKESHA, Wis. - Heartbreaking.
That was an appropriate way to describe the final outcome as the Carroll University softball team lost to third-place Illinois Wesleyan University 2-1 in the opening game of a College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin doubleheader at Kilgour Field on Sunday afternoon.
It was the fourth one-run conference loss of the season for the Pioneers, who dropped to 6-7 in the highly contested conference standings and 15-18 overall.
Carroll took an early lead in the bottom of the third as senior first baseman Kelly Strasser (Waterford, Wis.) delivered a two-out RBI single.
Freshman third baseman Lexy Kemnitzer (McFarland, Wis.) reached as the result of a one-out walk, advanced to second on a single by senior left fielder Hannah Miller (Chicago, Ill.) and took third on a groundout by freshman second baseman Elaine Anderson (Bristol, Wis.) to set the stage for Strasser's key early-inning hit.
"It was a pitch on the inside part of the plate and I just did my best to make good contact to drive the run in,"
said Strasser, who has a .336 batting average with a team-leading 36 hits and 16 RBIs. "Throughout the game, we hit the ball hard but still need to get better at executing with runners in scoring position. After struggling to get runs over the last few games, it was great to come up with a big hit to take an early lead."
"At this point of the season, we're approaching each game like its our last and attempting to make the most of every pitch. We have nothing to lose at this point so we're trying to take it out by out, play our style of game and go out with a bang. Now we just have to focus and try to turn things around. Hopefully, our effort will lead to a lot of success in the games to come."
Junior catcher Amanda Lack had a game-tying run-scoring double in the top of the fifth and drove in the winning run on a clutch, one-out RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh for Illinois Wesleyan, which improved to 8-5 in league and 24-11 overall.
Junior right-hander Mackenzie Marquis was the winning pitcher, scattering seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks in going the distance for the Titans.
Senior shortstop Megan Kohlmetz (Appleton, Wis.) went 2-for-4 for Carroll, which stranded 10 baserunners - including five in scoring position.
The Pioneers had bases-loaded situations in the bottom of the second and fifth but couldn't come through with a timely hit.
Miller, Anderson (Bristol, Wis.), freshman designated hitter Ashley McNamara (Batavia, Ill.) and freshman catcher Haylee Arroyo (Mayville, Wis.) each added a hit for Carroll, which suffered its fourth one-run conference loss of the season.
Freshman right-hander Amanda Osterhus (Munster, Ind.) took the loss, yielding six hits with five strikeouts and no walks.