Melbourne, Fla. -- The Thunder softball team returned to the USSSA Space Coast Complex this morning for another non-conference doubleheader after beginning its season with a pair of games on Monday. Wheaton took on Franciscan University in today's opening matchup and fellow Illinois squad, Greenville University, this afternoon, marking the first-ever meetings between the programs. The Thunder earned their first win of the young campaign with a smothering defensive performance against the Barons before falling, 5-3, to the Panthers. Wheaton's early-season record stands at 1-3 at the halfway point of its Spring Break slate.
The Orange and Blue needed only six innings to dispatch their Ohio-based opponents in Tuesday's first contest, thanks to a four-run surge in the final frame and
Shylah Dozeman's first career shutout in the circle. Neither team threatened to score in the opening inning, but Wheaton brought two runs across in the top of the second to establish an early lead. Dozeman took first base thanks to a hit-by-pitch play and was moved up to second via a single by
Livi Figueroa. Freshman
Makena Malecha then tallied the first RBI of her collegiate career with a double into left field that scored both of Wheaton's base runners. Franciscan got a pair of its own runners on base in the bottom half, but Dozeman (
pictured right) ended the inning with the first of her four strikeouts
on the day.
Another well-timed strikeout with two players on base in the bottom of the third inning maintained the Thunder's two-run edge, and
Abby Whitehead quickly extended this advantage to three with a lead-off home run in the fourth. Two singles at the start of the fifth frame saw Wheaton threaten to increase its lead, and the team's fifth run crossed the pentagon thanks to a wild pitch that
Ava Hartnett capitalized on. The Barons stranded two runners in scoring position to limit the damage but were unable to cut into their deficit in the next batting series thanks to another KO and sharp fielding play from Wheaton.
The Thunder put the result beyond doubt with a big sixth inning that saw four players circle the bases. After
Cate Welch drew a walk, Figueroa (
pictured below) brought both of them into score with a homer over the left field wall that made it 6-0 in Wheaton's favor. Malecha tallied her team's seventh run after a walk, stolen base, and fielding error, before Hartnett reached home plate for the second time thanks to an RBI single by
Amaya Daniels.
Franciscan's first batter of the inning bagged a double and made it to third base on the next play. But two ground outs
and one more Dozeman strikeout slammed the door on the Barons and confirmed Wheaton's shutout victory with no need for a seventh inning.
The Thunder tallied eight hits in today's win and committed no errors in a clinical performance. Franciscan finished with four hits and one error. Wheaton stole the only bag of the game, stranded seven Barons on base while seeing six of its own runners left on, and logged three extra-base hits to Franciscan's one.
Dozeman earned her first win of the season with a complete-game shutout, sitting down four opposition batters and allowing the same number of hits from the 25 players she faced.
Figueroa posted game-highs of two hits and two RBI and scored a run on her sixth inning homer. She was joined on two RBI by Malecha, who also scored once, tallied a hit, and stole the only base of the game. Whitehead opened her home run account for the season, while Hartnett posted one hit, one RBI, and two runs. Daniels and Welch each contributed one hit in the win, with the former earning her first RBI and the latter reaching home plate once.
In Tuesday's second contest, it was Wheaton's turn to fall two runs behind in the second inning after a scoreless start to the game. Both squads saw one runner stranded in scoring position in the opening frame, before Greenville broke the deadlock with a two-RBI triple. The Thunder then steadied the ship on defense by allowing just one hit over the next two innings, and Wheaton halved its deficit in the bottom of the fourth frame. Hartnett led off with a single into left field and eventually made it all the way home following two Panther errors on the same play.
But Greenville immediately restored its two-run advantage in the fifth inning via an RBI single into the outfield, and a three-up, three-down bottom half kept the southern Illinois squad in control. The Panthers stretched their edge to four runs in the top of the sixth thanks to consecutive doubles and a pair of missed pitches. But the Thunder refused to go away without a fight and tallied another score in the bottom of the frame after three-straight single hits helped Hartnett round the bases once again.
Wheaton stifled Greenville in the top of the seventh to give itself a chance for a dramatic comeback, and Welch began the rally attempt accordingly with a lead-off double down the line.
Kennedy Kemp followed this up with a left-field double of her own that scored pinch runner
Gracey Rockness and trimmed the Panthers' lead down to 5-3. But a pair of clutch strikeouts helped Greenville snuff out the comeback and hold on for a two-run victory.
The Thunder registered six hits and one error in this afternoon's game, while the Panthers tallied nine hits and two mistakes. Greenville had twice as many stranded runners at a 6-3 count but benefited from twice as many extra-base hits and the contest's only stolen bag.
Freshman thrower
Dillon Watson pitched a complete game for Wheaton and struck out two Greenville batters in her second collegiate start. Hartnett led the Thunder offensively with two runs and two hits, while Kemp and Whitehead each earned one RBI and one hit. Welch and
Mia Reinhard both accounted for one hit in today's second game.
Wheaton's Spring Break schedule will continue on Wednesday afternoon, as the Thunder take on Rivier University at 12:15 PM local time in Florida and UW-Superior at approximately 4:45 PM Eastern.
