CLERMONT, Fla. – The Carleton College softball won 2 of 3 games on Wednesday, defeating Elmhurst University (6-3 in 8 inn.) and Washington & Jefferson College (10-2 in 6 inn.). The Knights sent their third game of the day to extra innings but lost 13-7 to UW-Eau Claire, snapping Carleton's seven-game win streak.
Carleton is now 11-2 on the season.
Carleton 6, Elmhurst 3 (8 inn.)
The Knights trailed 3-0 after two innings but rallied for their first extra-innings win since April 2, 2015, snapping a five-game slide in extra frames.
Carleton saw its first 11 batters retired before
Brooke McKelvey (Sr./West Linn, Ore./West Linn) singled with two out in the fourth inning and came around to score.
Cassie Cunniff (Jr./Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) tripled and
Ella Collins (Fy./Ashburn, Va./Riverside) walked in the top of the sixth inning. Both runners scored thanks to aggressive baserunning. The Knights got a huge defensive play in the bottom of the frame when leftfielder
Helen Moses (So./Denver, Colo./Denver East) threw out a baserunner at home plate, keeping the scored deadlocked at 3-3.
Beginning with the eighth inning, team's come to bat with a runner already at second base. For Carleton that was Cunniff, who scored after McKelvey singled and the duo moved up on unsuccessful attempts to prevent the other from taking an extra base. Collins sac bunt brought home another run, and
Emma Kartheiser (Jr./Oronoco, Minn./Century) doubled home
Faith Hanshaw (Jr./The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands Christian Acad.) with an insurance run.
That was enough run support for
Logan Robinson (Sr./Alexandria, Va./National Cathedral School), who tossed a career-best 8.0 innings as she moved to 4-0 on the season.
Carleton 10, Washington & Jefferson 2 (6 inn.)
The Knights scored five times in the bottom of the first inning and registered their seventh consecutive win. McKelvey got the scoring started with a RBI triple, and
Laurie Avila (Jr./Sugar Grove, Ill./Oswego) added a two-run double in the inning.
Kartheiser and Avila had back-to-back doubles to account for another run in the third inning, and a double by Cunniff led to a two-run rally in the fourth frame.
Leading 8-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning,
Bryanna Schaffer (Fy./San Diego, Calif./Mar Vista) walked and
Amy Chen (So./Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington) reached on a fielder's choice. Both runners scored on Kartheiser's double to left center, giving the Knights a walk-off victory.
Hanshaw improved to 3-1 on the season after she tossed 5.0 and allowed only three hits and two runs (all coming in the third inning).
Avila finished 3-for-3 with three RBI, while Kartheiser had three doubles.
UW-Eau Claire 13, Carleton 7 (8 inn.)
This game was originally slated for Thursday, March 24, but it was moved up a day due to a weather forecast calling for rain and possible thunderstorms.
The Knights again had trouble getting the offense going, managing only one baserunner over the first four innings. Meanwhile, the Blugolds led 3-0, thanks in part to a pair of first-inning solo home runs.
The first four Carleton hitters reached base in the fifth inning, and each came around to score to give the Knights a 4-3 lead. UW-Eau Claire knotted the score at 4-4 with a run in the sixth inning.
In the bonus frame, eight straight Blugold batters reached base as UWEC erupted for nine runs. Carleton scored twice in the bottom of the stanza, but it was not enough as the Knights' longest win streak since a seven-gamer from April 18-28, 2018 was snapped with the loss.
Up Next for the Knights
Weather permitting, Carleton is slated to face Centre College at 2:15 p.m. ET / 1:15 p.m. CT.
