Clermont, Fla. – On its final day of The Spring Games in Florida, the Wheaton softball team dropped a pair of games to Dominican University and Penn State Behrend. Those losses bring the Thunder to a final record of 4-6 this season. As a result of the CCIW's decision to cancel all conference events for the 2020 sping season today's games were the final contests of the season for the Thunder softball program.
 
Against Dominican University in the first game of the day, Wheaton fell by a final score of 9-3. The Stars outhit the Thunder 12-5, and Wheaton committed three defensive errors compared to DU's two.
 
Dominican scored three runs in the second inning, and then two each in the fourth, fifth and seventh frames to outpace Wheaton's offense, which scored once in the fourth and twice in the fifth inning. Ashley Carter helped kick-start the Thunder with a single in the bottom of the fourth; Elise O'Neil then doubled to move her to third, and Carter scored on a Melody Rodriguez ground out to short.
 
In the fifth, Elle Lindblad started the Thunder offense with a double to left field, and she advanced to third thanks to a single from Maddy Bonetto. After Bonetto stole second, both she and Lindblad scored on a Claire Busch double. With just one out, Emilie Gist managed to move Busch to third and then steal second to give Wheaton two runners in scoring position, but back-to-back outs ended the attempted rally, and the Thunder would be unable to score again in the contest.
 
Wheaton's five hits came from five different players: Busch (1-for-3 with two RBI and a walk), Bonetto (1-for-3 with a run), Lindblad (1-for-1 with a run and two walks), Carter (1-for-4 with a run) and O'Neil (1-for-4). The Thunder also recorded nine strikeouts as a team, and left eight runners stranded on bases.
 
Emilie Gist started in the circle and took the loss for Wheaton, throwing 6.1 innings and facing 32 batters while giving up 10 hits, nine runs (five earned), four strikeouts, and one walk. Maddy Whitmer also threw 0.2 innings for the Thunder, facing three batters and allowing two hits but no runs.
 
In the midday Florida heat and sunshine, Wheaton immediately had to regroup to face Penn State Behrend (PSB) in game two, which turned out to be a marathon contest lasting eight innings over two hours and 40 minutes of play. The slugfest was a high-pitch count, high scoring battle that ended with Wheaton falling 14-13 due to a wild pitch walk-off.
 
Though the Lions scored first in the game, plating three runs in the bottom of the first inning, Wheaton countered with a nine-run second frame to take a commanding lead. That inning alone featured nine hits for the Thunder offense, which also capitalized on a PSB error and a pitching change.
 
Carter and O'Neil started the scoring spree with back-to-back singles before Rodriguez reached due to a Lions throwing error. With bases loaded, Sydney Heinrich singled to score Carter. Three batters later and with two outs, Wheaton began tacking on insurance runs: Janette Oh tripled down the left field line to score three runs and then scored on a single from Busch; after another pair of singles from Gist and Carter loaded the bases, O'Neil doubled to left field to score two more and force a PSB pitching change. To cap the inning, Rodriguez then singled to right center, scoring O'Neil and Carter and giving Wheaton a 9-3 lead.
 
The Thunder scored again in the fourth—due to a walk, passed ball, and Lions error—to extend their lead to seven, but Penn State Behrend was not about to go quietly. Despite two back-to-back, momentum-shifting home runs by Gist and Carter in the top half of the sixth, PSB scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, four in the bottom of the sixth, and two in the bottom of the seventh to force the game into extra innings with the score tied at 12.
 
With a tie-breaking run (Carter) placed on second to start the eighth, Wheaton was able to take a 13-12 lead after Carter stole third and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Rodriguez.
 
With their own tie-breaking runner on second base, PSB drew a lead-off walk to start the bottom of the eighth, and after a fly to right, the Lions singled to load the bases with just one out. Another single scored the tying run, and though Wheaton recorded a second out and looked poised to send the game to the ninth inning, Penn State Behrend scored the go-ahead and walk-off run on a wild pitch to secure the 14-13 win.
 
In total, Wheaton scored its 13 runs on 12 hits, while PSB scored its 14 on 16 hits. The Thunder had three defensive errors, and the Lions had two. Wheaton also had three walks, three strikeouts, and left seven runners on base.
 
Carter went 3-for-5 from the plate, contributing five runs and one RBI. Gist was 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and a walk, O'Neil was 2-for-5 with three RBI and one run, and Busch went 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI. Oh also knocked in three RBI (going 1-for-5), as did Rodriguez (1-for-2).
 
In the circle, Wheaton utilized three pitchers. Carter got the start, going 5.2 innings against 33 batters and allowing 11 hits, 10 runs (six earned), five walks and tossing two strikeouts. O'Neil recorded the final out of the fifth inning, facing three hitters but allowing just one hit with one strikeout. Oh threw the final two innings and took the loss for Wheaton, as she faced 12 batters, allowing four hits, four runs (just one earned), two walks and one strikeout.