Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton softball team traveled to North Central College (22-19) on Thursday afternoon for an elimination game of the 2021 CCIW Softball Tournament. The No. 5 seeded Cardinals defeated the No. 7 seed Thunder, 8-1. Wheaton ends the 2021 season with a 15-24 overall record.

The Cardinals scored eight runs, on 11 hits with no errors. Wheaton tallied one run, on two hits, with two Thunder errors in the game. Ashley Carter hit a double and Madison Forberg added a single to account for Wheaton's two hits in the contest. Carter drove in the Thunder run in the game.

Sophomore starting pitcher Emilie Gist (8-15) tossed 3-1/3 innings for the Thunder. She allowed three runs, on five hits, with three strikeouts and two walks. Alese Antonello pitched 3-2/3 innings, with five runs allowed, including three earned runs, on six hits, with two strikeouts and one walk.

North Central gained a 1-0 lead with one run in the top of the second inning. The Cardinals added four runs in the top of the fourth inning to extend the hosts' lead to 5-0. North Central's big inning in the fourth was aided by a Wheaton wild pitch and two Thunder errors as two of the Cardinals' four runs in the inning were unearned.

North Central scored three more times in the top of the sixth inning to increase its lead to 8-0. Wheaton tallied one run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pinch hitter Maddy Whitmer drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and she scored two batters later on a RBI-double down the rightfield line by Carter.