PICTURED ABOVE: Ellen Radandt collected four hits on the day, including a triple.
Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder softball team played its first home contests of the season on Thursday, hosting Aurora in a doubleheader. The Spartans topped Wheaton 5-2 in the opener and Aurora rallied for an 8-7 win in the nightcap.
Aurora picked up a 5-2 win in the first game as the Spartans scored five runs, on five hits, with three errors and Wheaton plated two runs, on four hits with four errors. Wheaton's
Katie Thornton took the loss in six innings of work as she allowed five runs, including two earned runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Singles by
Alyssa Leonard,
Ellen Radandt,
Christina Sandstedt and Thornton accounted for Wheaton's four hits.
Aurora took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as the Spartans plated an unearned run. Aurora added two more runs in the bottom of the third inning to increase its lead to 3-0. The Spartans added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning. A RBI-single by Leonard in the top of the sixth inning gave Wheaton its first run to trim the Spartans' lead to 4-1. Aurora added a run in the bottom of the sixth to five AU a 5-1 lead. A RBI-single by Sandstedt in the top of the seventh inning accounted for the final score of 5-2.
Aurora won the second game 8-7 as the contest was halted at the end of the sixth inning due to darkness. The Spartans scored eight runs, on 12 hits, with two errors and Wheaton plated seven runs, on 12 hits with one error.
Thunder starting pitcher
Abby Butler worked 3-2/3 innings, allowing five runs, on seven hits. Freshman
Kendall Kehres pitched 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief as she scattered two hits with one strikeout and two walks. Thornton (4-3) took the loss in one inning of relief as she allowed three runs, on three hits, with two walks and one strikeout. Thornton hit 3-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Radandt was 3-for-4 at the plate in the game, with one run and one RBI. Sandstedt had a 2-for-3 effort with a run scored and
Julia Arthur (PICTURED LEFT) was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Radandt drove in a run with a RBI-single that scored
Megan Neuhaus. Aurora tied the game at 1-1 with one run in the bottom of the first inning. Wheaton broke the game open in the top of the third inning as the Thunder scored five runs. The Thunder offense was bolstered by a RBI-double from Neuhaus, RBI-singles by Thornton and
Julia Arthur as well as a sacrifice fly by
Abby Coster.
The Thunder added an addition run in the top of the fourth inning as Arthur drove in a run with a RBI-single to increase Wheaton's lead to 7-1. The Spartans rallied with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut Wheaton's lead to 7-5. The Spartans scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, including the winning run scoring from third base on a wild pitch. At the conclusion of the sixth inning Aurora took the field as coaches and umpires met at home plate. The umpires and coaches determined it was too dark to play the seventh and final inning and the game was called.
