Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton softball team closed out its 2025 regular season schedule on Wednesday with a CCIW doubleheader at North Park. The Thunder and the Vikings split the doubleheader as NPU won the first game 5-3 and the Thunder won the second game 8-0.

Wheaton's victory in the second game was critical for the team's CCIW Tournament aspirations. The win assured Wheaton a spot in next week's CCIW Tournament in Bloomington, Illinois, where the Thunder will be the No. 6 seed in the tournament. The postseason berth is the first CCIW Tournament appearance for the Thunder softball program since 2019 (not including the 2021 season when every team participated in the tournament).  
Wheaton clinched its postseason berth with an 8-0 victory in the second game today as the Thunder scored eight runs, on nine hits, with two errors. North Park had zero runs, on four hits, with two errors. Freshman starting pitcher Kennedy Kemp earned the win in five innings of work. She held the Vikings scoreless, scattering four hits, with one walk allowed.

Senior Olivia Nahorniak was 3-for-4, scoring twice, with two RBI and a stolen base. Sophomore Abby Whitehead was 2-for-3 with a double as she drove in two runs.

Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Abie Brown drew a one-out walk and she scored three batters later on a NPU error. The Thunder added four more runs in the bottom of the second inning to extend their lead to 5-0. Kemp hit a one-out single and scored on a RBI-single by Isabel Hillyer. Nahorniak drove in a run with a RBI-single, Brown drove in Hillyer on a sacrifice fly, and Cate Welch hit a RBI-single to rightfield that brought Nahorniak home for the 5-0 Wheaton lead.

Whitehead hit a two-run double to right centerfield in the bottom of the fourth inning as the Thunder lead increased to 7-0. Nahorniak hit a single in the inning and Brown drew a walk as they scored on the Whitehead double.
Paige Andrews drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth inning and she scored three batters later on a single to right centerfield by Nahorniak. Andrews' run gave Wheaton an 8-0 lead and ended the contest on the run-rule.
North Park won today's first game 5-3 as the Vikings scored five runs, on 11 hits, with zero errors. Wheaton plated three runs, on four hits, with one error. Thunder starting pitcher Shylah Dozeman pitched 4-2/3 innings for the Thunder. She allowed five runs, with four earned runs, on nine hits, with two strikeouts, and zero walks. Freshman Rylinn MacDonald pitched 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief. She allowed two hits, with two walks allowed. Kemp, Nahorniak, and Livi Figueroa each collected a double for the guests in the opening game. Whitehead added a single.

North Park scored one run in the bottom of the first inning, and added a second run in the bottom of the second to gain a 2-0 lead. Freshman Soleil Weaver drew a one-out walk in the top of the third inning. She stole second base, and later scored on a double to left centerfield off the bat of Nahorniak as Wheaton trimmed the NPU lead to 2-1. The Vikings scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend their lead to 5-1.

Wheaton added a run in the top of the sixth inning to cut the NPU lead to 5-2. Whitehead hit a one-out infield single in the sixth, and scored in the next at bat on a double down the rightfield line by Figueroa.
Nahorniak hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Dozeman in the top of the seventh inning. Dozeman's run cut the Vikings' lead to 5-3. However, the Vikings' induced a two-out groundout with Thunder runners at first and second base to end the game with a 5-3 NPU victory.

Wheaton is off until the CCIW Tournament begins on Thursday, May 8. The sixth-seeded Thunder will face either Millikin or Carthage as the No. 3 seed in the tournament at 2:00 p.m. The tournament will be hosted by top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University, May 8-10. Admission for the tournament is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, students, and children (ages 6-14), children ages 5 and under are admitted for free. Current CCIW students will be admitted for free with a current student ID from a CCIW-member institution.