Kissimmee, Fla. (3/6) – The Thunder softball team opened its season with three wins in its first four games on Monday and Tuesday. Wheaton split a doubleheader with Baldwin-Wallace College with a 12-2 loss in the opener and an 8-6 win in the nightcap. On Tuesday Wheaton swept Husson College in a pair of shutouts with 2-0 and 10-0 victories. The Thunder will be in action again on Wednesday at the Rebel games against Heidelberg and Waynesburg.
In Monday's first game Baldwin-Wallace scored seven runs, following a dropped foul ball with two outs, in the bottom of the third inning. They added five more in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Sara Hoffman pitched 2-2/3 innings, allowing seven runs, none earned, on five hits. Kim Hegna pitched 1-1/3 innings of relief, with five runs on four hits. Wheaton scored two runs, on six hits, with one error, while Baldwin-Wallace scored 12 runs on nine hits, with an error.
In the 8-6 victory against Baldwin-Wallace in Monday's nightcap, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings. Junior Lauren Hein hit a two-out double down the leftfield line to cut the Baldwin-Wallace lead to 4-3. Freshman Alissa Sharp hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Thunder a 5-4 lead. Sharp helped the Thunder secure the victory with a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Wheaton an 8-6 lead that would become the final outcome.
Junior Beth Miller tossed a complete game for the Thunder, with six runs and one earned run on two hits and nine strikeouts. Sharp was 2-for-4 with the two round trippers with five RBI. Trinity Pierce was 2-for-2, with two walks a run scored.
In the 2-0 victory in Tuesday twin bill with Husson, Miller started off the top of the second with a single down the right field line. Freshman Alissa Sharp then reached on a no out fielder's choice advancing Miller to second. Senior Amanda Grant sacrificed both runners ahead and freshman Becky Redline singled to left to score miller. Senior Amber Richardson followed with a sacrifice squeeze bunt to score Sharp. That would be all the Thunder needed in the 2-0 victory. Junior Kim Hegna was the winning pitcher with a complete game shutout allowing only three hits and striking out nine batters.
In the second game of the doubleheader the Thunder earned a 10-0 victory. Wheaton's first runs came in the fourth inning thanks to a single by Miller to drive in a run after a triple by junior Sarah Callicutt down the right field line. Callicutt would later score on an error during an attempted pick off. The runs kept coming in the sixth when singles by Sharp, Grant, and Callicutt resulted in three more runs, increasing the lead to five. The Thunder would put Husson away for good in the top of the seventh inning when a lead off walk by Hein, and a single by freshman Emily Tuttle would result in two of the three RBI's scored on a three run homer run by Pierce to centerfield. Two runs were scored on Husson errors bringing the final score to 10-0. Hoffman earned a complete game shutout, allowing only two hits and nine strike outs
