Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder softball team opened the home portion of its 2022 schedule on Monday against Concordia University-Chicago. The Thunder swept the Cougars in a twinbill as Wheaton won the opener 4-0 and the hosts closed out the sweep with an 8-3 victory against Concordia in the nightcap. Wheaton improves to 9-3 overall, while the Cougars fall to 5-6.
Wheaton won today's first game, 4-0 as the Thunder plated four runs, on 10 hits, with no errors and Concordia-Chicago had no runs, on two hits, with one error. Thunder starting pitcher
Emilie Gist was impressive in a complete game effort of seven innings as she earned the victory to improve to 6-1 on the season. Gist allowed two hits, with no runs, striking out 10 batters, with three walks.
Freshman Olivia
Olivia Nahorniak was 3-for-3 with a double in game one. Infielder
Paige Andrews was 2-for-4, with two home runs and a run scored.
Wheaton gained a lead early as the Thunder scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Andrews (PICTURED LEFT) hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the first, and
Madison Forberg hit a RBI-single to give the hosts a 3-0 lead.
Wheaton added a run in the bottom of the third inning as
Elise O'Neil hit a RBI-double to give Wheaton a 4-0 advantage. Gist was stellar in the circle as she held the Cougars hitless for the first three innings. She allowed an infield leadoff single to open the top of the fourth inning and a double in the sixth inning as that was all the offense the guests could muster. Wheaton's strategic offense, strong defense and Gist's pithing led the Thunder to the 4-0 victory.
The Thunder won the nightcap 8-3, exploding for six runs in the top of the fourth innings. The hosts scored eight runs, on 10 hits, with three errors and Concordia plated three runs, on six hits, with one error.
Alese Antonello (3-2) earned the win in a seven-inning complete game effort. She allowed three runs, with one earned run, on six hits, with three strikeouts and four walks. Gist was 3-for-3 at the plate, with two RBI, and a run scored, hitting a pair of doubles.
Estelle Rios was 2-for-3, hitting a double with a run scored.
Gist hit a RBI-double in the bottom of the first inning to give Wheaton a 1-0 advantage. The Thunder bats put up six runs on six hits in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Janette Oh belted a three-run double late in the inning to highlight the fourth. Forberg drove in a run with a sacrifice bunt, Carter collected a RBI-single and
Claire Busch capped off the scoring in the inning with a RBI-double to left field to give the Thunder a 7-0 lead.
Concordia scored twice in the top of the fifth inning to trim Wheaton's advantage to 7-2. The Cougars' offense threatened to add more runs in the top of the sixth as the guests loaded the bases with no outs. Antonello induced a laser line drive to Busch at third base and she beat the baserunner back to third base for a key double play. The Cougars again loaded the bases with two outs and Concordia's Nia DeGeorge belted a shot to right field, however Oh made a running play to get the ball on the fly and keep any Concordia runs from reaching the plate.
Andrews hit a RBI-double for the Thunder in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the hosts' lead to 8-2. Concordia added a run in the top of the seventh to account for the 8-3 final score.
Wheaton faces Calvin University tomorrow in a doubleheader at The Dome at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, Illinois. The first game of tomorrow's twinbill is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. The Thunder and
Knights were originally scheduled to play on Wednesday, March 23, however with rain in the forecast the location was moved and the game date was moved up one day.
