GAME STATS 1 |
GAME STATS 2 PICTURED ABOVE: Shannah Morris collected three hits on the day.
GAME 1 BOXSCORE: Wheaton 11, Hope 8
GAME 2 BOXSCORE: Hope 7, Wheaton 6
Holland, Mich. – The Thunder softball team split a doubleheader at Hope College on Tuesday afternoon. Wheaton won the first game 11-8 and the Flying Dutch won the second game 7-6. Wheaton moves to 15-4 on the season, while Hope is now 6-10.
Wheaton will host its Wheaton Invitational this Saturday at Ruth Leedy Field. The Thunder will face University of Chicago at 10:30 AM, Calvin College will take on Chicago at 1 PM and Wheaton will close out the tournament against Calvin at 3:30 PM. Livestats of Wheaton's games on Saturday will be available
HERE and an audio broadcast is available at this
LINK
Wheaton won today's opener, 11-8 as the Thunder scored 11 runs, on 10 hits, committing four errors and Hope recorded eight runs, on nine hits, with three errors. Senior pitcher
Ainsley McCullough (7-2) pitched a complete game for the Thunder. McCullough allowed eight runs, including six earned runs, on nine hits, with six strikeouts and five walks.
Jessika Russi was 2-for-4, with a home run as she scored two runs and had two RBI.
Stacey Cladis and
Megan Crucetti (PICTURED LEFT) each drove in three runs and hit a homer.
Hope took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, however, Wheaton tied the game in the top of the second inning thanks to a two-run homer by Russi. Cladis belted a two-run home run in top of the third inning and Hope added a run in the bottom of the third to give Wheaton a 4-3 lead.
The Thunder put up its third consecutive inning with a home run when Crucetti hit a three-run round tripper in the top of the fourth inning and the Flying Dutch added a run in the bottom half of the inning as Wheaton held a 7-4 lead through four innings.
Each team scored a run in the fifth inning, as Wheaton's run came off of a RBI-single by
Shannah Morris. Each team plated three runs in the sixth inning to account for the 11-8 final score, as neither team scored in the seventh inning.
Hope won the second game 7-6 as the Flying Dutch scored seven runs, on nine this, with no errors and Wheaton plated six runs, on 10 hits, with zero errors. Thunder junior pitcher
Danielle Schmidt (8-3) took the loss in 6-1/3 innings. She allowed seven runs, on nine hits, with two strikeouts.
Shannah Morris was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and Crucetti also went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to a one-out home run by
Megan Chrans.
Ellen Radandt hit a RBI-single in the top of the fourth inning to give the Thunder a 2-1 lead. Hope cut Wheaton's lead to 2-1 with one run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Suzanne Teuben increased Wheaton's lead to 3-1 with a RBI-single in the top of the sixth. The Flying Dutch took their first lead with a 5-3 advantage as the hosts scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wheaton regained the lead with three runs in the top of the seventh inning, to give the Thunder a 6-5 lead.
Lesley Guenard hit a two-run double to tie the game at 5-5 and Cladis drove in the go-ahead run with a RBI-single. Hope won the game with a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to earn the victory and the spilt of the twinbill.
