Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

Wheaton, Ill. - A pair of walk-off hits capped a dramatic doubleheader as the Wheaton College softball team and Carthage College split a doubleheader on Friday. Wheaton won the first game 2-1 in 10 innings while Carthage rallied to win the second game 6-5.

The Thunder are now 15-11 overall on the year and 1-3 in the CCIW. The Lady Reds ran their record to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in conference.

Game one was a pitchers duel all the way through between Wheaton's Ainsley McCullough and Carthage's Kelsey Epping. Epping came into the game with a 6-0 record and a 0.17 ERA. The Thunder bats were frequently late catching up to Epping's blazing speed as she racked up 14 strikeouts in the game.

Wheaton, however, got on the board in the second inning. Lesley Guenard stroked a double, stole third base and scored on an RBI single by Amanda Mattocks.

The visitors came right back in the third inning with a lead-off double, which later turned into a run via wild pitch.

It was zeros on the scoreboard the rest of the way until the bottom of the 10th inning. After stranding the bases loaded in the ninth, Wheaton came through with the big hits in the 10th. Megan Chrans hit a double to the wall in left center and Jenna Lawrenz followed with a single through the left side. The left fielder came up firing to the plate, but the catcher couldn't handle the throw and Chrans scored the game-winning run from third base.

McCullough earned the win, throwing all 10 innings while allowing five hits, one run, three walks and six strikeouts. Adrienne Munoz, Lesley Guenard and Katie Iser all had two hits each for the Thunder.

Epping took the loss in 9-1/3 inning. She allowed 10 hits, two runs (one earned) with six walks and 14 strikeouts while stranding 13 Wheaton runners on base.

Game two was a back-and-forth affair all the way through. Wheaton opened the scoring in the first inning on Iser's RBI infield single to the shortstop. A Suzanne Teuben run-scoring single in the third inning staked the Thunder to a 2-1 lead.

The hosts gained a little more breathing room in the sixth inning thanks to an RBI single by Lawrenz and an RBI double by Chrans. But Carthage came right back in the bottom half of the inning with a run of their own. McCullough then came in as relief for starting pitcher Danielle Schmidt and proceeded to strand the bases loaded with an inning-ending strikeout.

Lauren Griffith's solo homer blast down the left-field line in the seventh put Wheaton up 5-3. However, the Lady Reds had last at-bats and took advantage. Carthage strung together three-straight hits to tie the game and walked off with the victory on a subsequent RBI single up the middle.

McCullough took the loss in one inning of relief with four hits, three runs, one walk and one strikeout. Schmidt got a no-decision, allowing three runs, five hits, two walks and six strikeouts in her 5-2/3 innings of work.

Griffith led the Thunder offense by going 3-for-4 with a double and a homer. Lawrenz went 2-for-4.

Epping earned the win in 1-2/3 innings of relief, allowing one hit and one run with two walks and a strikeout.

The Thunder continue its season schedule with a doubleheader at 1:00 PM on Saturday at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.