Wheaton, Ill. – In a busy week for the Wheaton softball team, the Thunder took on the Rockford Regents in a nonconference doubleheader. The twinbill was originally scheduled for April 2, but was postponed due to weather. In addition, game one was delayed for an hour today because of thunderstorms in the area.
The Regents struck first in the top of the second, capitalizing on a Wheaton error to plate two unearned runs. Nonetheless, the Thunder offense roared to life in the third inning as
Livi Figueroa reached and then scored on a
Mia Reinhard RBI double.
Natalie McCaghren added a two-run double and
Amaya Daniels notched an RBI fielder's choice as Wheaton surged ahead 4-2.
Rockford answered in the fourth, stringing together five hits in a four-run inning. The visitors added two additional runs to stretch the lead to 8-4.
Despite the somewhat large Rockford lead, Wheaton chipped away late.
Shylah Dozeman came in the fifth to pitch two shutout innings while fanning four batters. In the next half inning,
Mia Reinhard scored off a
Kennedy Kemp sacrifice fly, and the hosts mounted one last push in the seventh.
Nori Kang doubled to spark the rally, and RBI singles from
Ava Hartnett and
Madeleine Hillyer cut the deficit to one. With the tying run on third base and two outs, the Regents managed to record the final out and escape game one with an 8-7 win.
Both teams finished with twelve hits while Figueroa, Reinhard, and Kemp each had two-hit performances for the hosts.
In the second fixture, Rockford came out sharp, scoring one run each in the first two innings. However, the Thunder cut the deficit in half off a Dozeman sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second. Wheaton then took control in the third when
Makena Malecha led off with a double, and Hartnett brought her home with an RBI single before later scoring on Reinhard's sacrifice fly. By the end of the frame, Wheaton had moved in front by a score of 3-2.
After neither team could score in the fourth, the Thunder offense exploded in the fifth. After loading the bases, McCaghren's two-run single gave Wheaton a 5-2 advantage. The Thunder poured in extra runs when Figueroa scored on a wild pitch, Kang hit an RBI-single, and Malecha knocked in a sacrifice fly. Hartnett capped the inning with a two-run double as Wheaton piled up seven runs to force the run rule as the Thunder secured a 10-2 victory, thus snapping their eight game losing streak.
The Thunder tallied ten hits in the contest compared to the Regents' six. Individually, Hartnett had three hits to go alongside her two-RBI performance. McCaghren notched two hits in the game with two RBIs as well. Dozeman earned the win, pitching all five innings while striking out three.
With the results, Wheaton is now 13-19 overall as they enter a pivotal part of their schedule with three out of their four remaining doubleheaders being CCIW opponents. The Thunder will host Augustana on Friday and take on North Park for Senior Day on Saturday.
