GAME STATS Bloomington, Ill. – The Thunder softball dropped an 8-1 decision to Augustana (27-13-1) on Friday morning in an elimination game of the 2015 CCIW Tournament. The Thunder bow out of the tournament with Friday's loss and Augustana advances to face Illinois Wesleyan in the championship session. The Vikings will need two victories to win the CCIW Tournament, while the host Titans need just one victory as they are undefeated in the tournament.

Wheaton wraps up the year 24-16, setting multiple school records including the new mark for victories in a single season at 24.
Augustana picked up today's 8-1 win with eight runs, on nine hits, with three errors and Wheaton scored one run, on eight hits with two errors. Thunder starting pitcher Katie Thornton worked 4-1/3 scoreless innings, on two hits, with two walks and one strikeout. Abby Butler (8-2) pitched 2/3 of an inning as she allowed four runs, including one earned run, on three hits. Kendall Kehres worked one inning of relief, allowing four runs, on four hits, with one walk and one strikeout.

Lyndsey Prtichard was 2-for-3 in the game with a RBI. Megan Neuhaus was 2-for-4 and Thornton was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
The Vikings took an early 4-0 lead with four runs in the bottom of the second inning.  Wheaton loaded the bases and Pritchard was hit by a pitch to bring a run home in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Augustana lead to 4-1. The Vikings added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to account for the 8-1 final score.

Note Worthy: The Thunder established multiple team and individual records this season, including most RBI (215); most total bases (514); most doubles (73)…the 240 runs scored this season is second-most in school history and the 346 hits is also second…Thornton established a new Wheaton single-season record for strikeouts with 132…Thornton's 15 victories is the second-highest single-season total in school history…Alyssa Leonard's 55 hits is second in Wheaton's single-season record books and Thornton's 50 hits is seventh…Leonard scored 35 runs this season, the fourth-highest single-season total in school history…Leonard's 81 total bases is fifth in the single-season record books.