Minneola, Fla. – The Thunder softball team faced Simpson College and Dominican University on Monday in the second day of action for the program on its Spring Break Trip to Florida. Simpson rallied to beat the Thunder 6-4 in the opener. Dominican topped the Thunder 10-1 in the second game of the day.
Simpson topped Wheaton 6-4 as the Storm scored six runs, on eight hits, with no errors and Wheaton tallied four runs, on three hits, with three errors. Kendall Kehres pitched seven innings. The senior allowed six runs, with two earned runs, on eight hits, one walk and one strikeout. Kelly Thornton hit a double for the Thunder as Melody Rodriguez and Morgan Ryan each hit singles.
Ryan hit a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning as Wheaton jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Simpson trimmed the Thunder lead to 2-1 with a run in the top of the third inning. Rodriguez's two-run single in the bottom of the third inning extended Wheaton's lead to 4-1. Simpson trimmed Wheaton's lead to one run at 4-3 with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning. The Storm gained the lead for good with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to account for the 6-4 final score.
Dominican topped the Thunder 10-1. The Stars scored 10 runs, on nine hits, with one error and Wheaton registered one run, on four hits, with no errors. Thornton worked one inning on the circle with eight runs, on six hits. Maddy Whitmer worked three innings, allowing two runs, on three hits. Hannah Clark hit a double in the game. Megan Neuhaus, Kelly Thornton and Morgan Ryan added singles.
Clark led off the game with a double and then stole third base. She scored on a throwing error to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Dominican scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 6-1 lead. The Stars' lead increased to 8-1 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Dominican scored one run in the bottom of the third inning and another run in the bottom of the fourth to account for the 10-1 final score.
Wheaton takes on Saint Vincent College at 9:00 a.m. (EST) tomorrow morning followed by a game against Franklin College at 11:30 a.m. (EST).