WAUKESHA, Wis. - The road to a postseason conference tournament berth can often be a humbling experience.
The young, steadily improving Carroll University softball team learned that lesson firsthand as it lost to Carthage College 2-0 to cap a hard-fought College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin doubleheader at Kilgour Field on Thursday night.
It was the third consecutive conference loss for Carroll, which dropped to 9-5 in the highly contested league standings and 21-13 overall after the frustrating sweep.
Despite the disheartening home-field setback, the Pioneers remained in the hunt for a berth in the upcoming CCIW Tournament with two games left in the regular season.
The top four teams in the conference advance to the league tourney scheduled for May 4-5.
No. 18-ranked Illinois Wesleyan is currently atop the conference standings (11-1), North Central is second (10-4), Carroll and Carthage are tied for third (9-5), Augustana follows in fourth (6-6) and Millikin is fifth (6-8).
Carroll rounds out the regular season by hosting Elmhurst (5-9) in a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.
Carthage, which improved to 19-17 overall, scored two unanswered runs on three hits and took advantage of a key error in what proved to be a decisive bottom of the fourth inning - including a game-winning RBI single by junior designated hitter Kaitlin Shaffer and a run-scoring single by sophomore right-fielder Emmily Zinkiewicz.
Sophomore right-hander Ellie Bernero was the winning pitcher, scattering six hits with three strikeouts and two walks to earn a complete-game victory.
Junior right-fielder Annika Graves (Muskego, Wis.) went 2-for-3 with a stolen base to power a six-hit attack for Carroll, which stranded six baserunners - including five in scoring position. Junior first baseman Kelsey Edwards (Rockford, Ill.), junior second baseman Maggie Erdman (Jefferson, Wis.), freshman shortstop Jordan Wermund (Stevensville, Mich.) and freshman left fielder Emily Green (Oswego, Ill.) each added a hit.
The Pioneers attempted to rally in the seventh with a runner at first and no outs but couldn't complete the comeback, falling to a momentum-shifting double play and a game-ending groundout.
Freshman right-hander Rachel Piontek (Green Bay, Wis.) took the loss, yielding two earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and a walk through 3 1/3 innings.
It was a gritty effort by Piontek, who was shook up after taking a hard-hit line drive off of her leg in the second inning but remained in the game until being relieved by sophomore right-hander Lexy Kemnitzer (McFarland, Wis.) in the fourth.
Carroll head coach Amy Gradecki emphasized that her team needs to remain positive and play with a sense of urgency in its final two games of the regular season.
"We need to forget about what happened today, bounce back and be ready to go Saturday," Gradecki said. "Coming into the doubleheader, Carthage knew they needed two victories to still have a chance in the CCIW race so they came out on a mission to get the job done. We simply didn't come ready to play, gradually lost some momentum and couldn't recover.
If we continue to take a positive approach, we should be able to settle down, play our style of game and make a strong push for a spot in the conference tournament. It will be exciting to see how everything plays out with a playoff berth on the line."