PICTURED ABOVE: Morgan Ryan hit a grand slam in the fifth inning in the victory against Eastern Nazarene to break a 2-2 tie.
Minneola, Fla. – The Wheaton softball team split a pair of games on Thursday in the annual Spring Break Trip to Florida. Wheaton closed out Thursday's pair of games with a 6-2 victory against Algeria. The Thunder opened the day with a 5-4 loss in eighth innings against Alvernia.
In the Thunder victory against Eastern Nazarene, Wheaton scored six runs, on nine hits, with no errors and the Lions scored two runs, with eight hits, committing one error. Senior pitcher
Kendall Kehres (PICTURED LEFT) worked all seven innings for the Thunder to earn the win. Kehres allowed two earned runs, on eight hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Morgan Ryan was 2-for-3, with one run scored and five RBI. She hit a fifth-inning grand slam that broke a 2-2 tie.
Hannah Clark was 2-for-4, hitting a pair of singles, with a stolen base.
Kelly Thornton was 1-for-2 with a double as she scored twice.
Megan Neuhaus,
Melody Rodriguez,
Beka Behrens and
Sophie Kent each contributed a single.
The Lions scored twice in the top of the first inning to gain the early 2-0 lead. Rodriguez drove in one run in the bottom of the first on a RBI single. Ryan drove in a run on a groundout in the inning to tie the game at 2-2. The two teams played scoreless softball for the next three-and-a-half innings.
Clark and Neuhaus had back-to-back RBI-singles with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. Thornton was hit by a pitch on the next at bat to load the bases. Rodriguez reached first base on a fielder's choice as Clark was out at home on the play. Ryan belted a grand slam over the fence in centerfield to give Wheaton a 6-2 lead. Kehres closed out the game for her second win of the season.
In Wheaton's first game of the day, Alvernia scored five runs, on seven hits, with no errors and Wheaton plated four runs, on five hits, with zero errors. Thornton, Wheaton's starting pitcher, worked six innings. She allowed four runs, including two earned runs, on six hits, with three strikeouts and two walks. Kehres pitched 1-1/3 innings of relief, allowing one run, on one hit, with one walk and one strikeout.
Behrens was 2-for-4 in the game, with a RBI. Thornton hit a solo home run.
Maddy Whitmer hit a RBI-double and Clark added a single for the 'Orange and Blue'.
Clark drew a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning and then stole second base, followed by a swipe of third base. She scored on a groundout by Neuhaus. Thornton increased Wheaton's lead to 2-0 with a home run over the fence in leftfield.
Julia Arthur drew a two-out walk in the top of the third inning and she scored in the next at bat on a RBI-double by Whitmer to increase the Thunder lead to 3-0.
Alvernia scored twice in the bottom of the third inning to trim the Thunder lead to 3-2 and the Golden Wolves scored twice more in the bottom of the fourth in gain a 4-3 lead. Clark led off the top of the fifth inning with a bunt single and Behrens hit a single to rightfield five batters later that brought Clark home to tie the game at 4-4.
The contest remained tied 4-4 through seven innings as the matchup went into extra innings. The rules of this week's tournament utilize the international tiebreaker placing a runner at second base to start the inning.
Abby Hancock started the inning at second base, but Wheaton was unable to bring her home in the top of the eighth inning. Alvernia placed Bernadette Carey at second base to open the bottom of the eighth inning. Kehres struck out the first Golden Wolves batter she faced, but Alvernia hit a one-out single to left field that drove Carey home for the game-winning run.
Wheaton closes out its trip on Friday with a pair of games. The Thunder takes on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Friday at 4:30 p.m. (EST) and Simpson College at 7:00 p.m (EST).
