Grand Rapids. Mich. – The Wheaton Thunder softball team lost a pair of games on Tuesday afternoon at Calvin College. The Knights defeated the Thunder 6-1 and Calvin pulled off the sweep with an 8-0 victory in the second game.

Calvin defeated the Thunder 6-1 in today's first game. The Knights scored six runs, on 11 hits with no errors and Wheaton registered one run, on three hits with two errors. Thunder starting pitcher Kendall Kehres (4-7) took the loss in 4-2/3 innings. Kehres allowed five earned runs, on eight hits with one strikeout. Abby Butler pitched 1-1/3 innings of relief. Butler allowed one earned run, on three hits with one strikeout and a walk. Sage Miller, Megan Neuhaus and Kelly Thornton each collected a hit for the Thunder. Neuhaus had a double.

Wheaton scored first in the opener as Hannah Clark drew a leadoff walk and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Thornton. The Knights tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Calvin increased its lead to 3-1 with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. The hosts added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and another run in the bottom of the sixth to account for the 6-1 final score.

The Knights won the second game as the hosts scored eight runs, on nine hits, with no errors and Wheaton scored zero runs, on two hits with three errors.  Jaclyn McLean took the loss on the circle for the Thunder. She allowed six runs, including four earned runs, on seven hits with one strikeout. Kelly Thornton pitched 1-2/3 innings of relief. She allowed two earned runs, on two hits with two walks. Singles by Julia Arthur and Melody Rodriguez accounted for Wheaton's two hits in the game.

Wheaton will travel to Benedictine on Wednesday for a doubleheader. The twinbill has been moved from Thursday to avoid rain that is forecast for the area.