The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team opened up at home with a doubleheader sweep of Carthage College on Tuesday to push their win streak to five games and improve to 9-4 this season. The Warhawks took game one 10-6 behind two homeruns from senior Maggie Hansen (Algonquin, IL/Jacobs). Game two ended after Lauren Janczak (Carol Stream, Ill./Bartlett)'s two-run homer in the sixth inning gave the Warhawks a large enough cushion to win by the run-rule, 9-0.

Carthage leapt onto the scoreboard early in game one, tallying a two-run homer in the top of the first. Hansen responded in the second for the Warhawks with a solo blast to deep centerfield.

The Lady Reds extended their lead to 3-1 after scoring on a wild pitch in the third.

Amy Ricci (Gurnee, IL/Warren Township) pulled the Warhawks even in the third with a two-run double down the left field line before Hansen followed with her second homer of the game to give the Warhawks a 5-3 lead. Three batters later, Nikki Mikosz (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling) belted her first homerun of the season, and her collegiate career, to give UW-W the 7-3 advantage.

Carthage battled back with two runs in the top of the fifth but the Warhawks got one back in the bottom half of the frame to lead 8-5 after five.

A solo homerun by Carthage first baseman Hailey Rothstein in the sixth made it 8-6, but the Warhawks added two in the bottom of the inning to stretch their lead to 10-6.

Stephanie Waller (Oak Lawn, IL/Richards) took care of business on the mound, earning her third win of the season after pitching six innings and scattering seven hits, four earned runs and six strikeouts.

Game two started slowly but the Warhawks gathered momentum in the third frame scoring a run on three different plays for a 3-0 lead.

The Warhawks blew the game open in the sixth, scoring six runs on four hits and one error. The highlight of the inning was Janczak's pinch hit homerun ... the first hit of her collegiate career. The homer happened to be a "walk-off" as it gave the Warhawks a 9-0 lead, enough to win by virtue of the run rule.

Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) kept the Lady Reds' bats at bay the entire game. The freshman righty threw all six innings and gave up just five hits and one walk while striking out one. Camardo is now 4-1 this season with a 0.83 earned run average.

Up next for the Warhawks is a trip to Naperville, Illinois on Saturday, April 2 for a doubleheader against North Central College beginning at 1 pm.