WAUKESHA, Wis. - Freshman shortstop Jordan Wermund (Stevensville, Mich.) scored the winning run on an error to cap a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Carroll University softball team defeated Alverno College 6-5 in the finale of a nonconference doubleheader at Kilgour Field on Thursday afternoon.
It was the fifth one-run victory of the season for Carroll, which earned its third consecutive sweep to improve to 16-8 overall.
Alverno, which dropped to 12-14 overall, scored five unanswered runs on five hits and took advantage of two errors in the top of the third.
Carroll trimmed the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth as junior center fielder Rosie Craine (Wheaton, Ill.) delivered a two-run single.
Junior first baseman Kelsey Edwards (Rockford, Ill.) hit a solo home run - her first of the season - to provide a critical spark in the sixth for the Pioneers, who amassed 14 hits and overcame four errors. Junior right fielder Annika Graves (Muskego, Wis.) and freshman catcher/third baseman Allyssa Demma (Orland Park, Ill.) each followed with an RBI single to set the stage for Wermund's game-winner.
Wermund, who went 3-for-4 to power Carroll's 13-hit offensive attack, reached on a one-out single, advanced to second on Demma's single and scored the game-winner on an error by Alverno junior left fielder Mackenzie Mathies.
Graves and sophomore winning pitcher Lexy Kemnitzer (McFarland, Wis.) each added two hits for the Pioneers.
Kemnitzer, a right-hander who improved to 8-3 overall, yielded only one hit with five strikeouts and one walk in pitching the final 4 1/3 innings.
Senior left-hander Olivia Schneider allowed five earned runs on 13 hits with two strikeouts and one walk in taking the complete-game loss for Alverno, which collected six hits and stranded six baserunners.