ELMHURST, Ill. - Entering the final weekend of the regular season, the Carroll University softball team needed to sweep a conference doubleheader to keep any hopes for a potential postseason tournament alive.
Those playoff hopes gradually vanished as the Pioneers lost to Elmhurst College 5-4 in a hard-fought, nine-inning College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin series opener at Salt Creek Park on Saturday afternoon.
The second game of the doubleheader was postponed because of rain.
It was the fifth one-run conference loss of the season for the Pioneers, who lost their seventh straight to drop to 6-9 in the league standings and 15-20 overall.
The heart-breaking road loss officially eliminated Carroll from playoff contention with one regular-season conference game remaining.
Elmhurst, which improved to 7-8 in conference and 17-18 overall, scored the first runs of the battle on a two-run home run by sophomore left fielder Val Perelli in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Carroll responded with a dramatic game-tying two-run rally in the top of the seventh, including an RBI groundout by freshman pinch hitter Ashley McNamara (Batavia, Ill.) and a pressure-packed run-scoring single by freshman catcher Haylee Arroyo (Mayville, Wis.) to force extra innings.
The Pioneers, who amassed 10 hits, claimed a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth as senior first baseman Kelly Strasser (Waterford, Wis.) delivered a run-scoring double to right-center field.
Elmhurst tied the game in the bottom of the eighth as junior shortstop Stephanie Sturino had a run-scoring single to right field.
Carroll claimed the lead a final time in the ninth as senior left fielder Kara McCaughrean (Woodstock, Ill.) responded with an RBI single to centerfield.
Elmhurst junior first baseman Tara Cannella tied the contest in the bottom of the ninth as the result of a costly throwing error and freshman relief pitcher Emily Despain scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk.
Freshman right-hander Amanda Osterhus (Munster, Ind.) took the loss, yielding two earned runs on nine hits with 13 strikeouts and two walks through 8 1/3 innings.
Strasser, senior shortstop Megan Kohlmetz (Appleton, Wis.) and sophomore right fielder Annika Graves (Muskego, Wis.) each had two hits for the Pioneers.