Decatur, Ill. – The Wheaton softball team finished its 2026 season on Saturday with a conference doubleheader at Millikin University. The Big Blue came up with the sweep over the Thunder, topping their visitors, 8-0, in both contests. The Thunder end their campaign with a 13-25 record (1-15 CCIW), while the Big Blue improve to 25-12 (11-3 CCIW) and will head into next week's conference tournament as the #2 seed.
In game one, the home side opened with four runs to start the first inning. Despite putting runners on base in the second frame through a double from
Livi Figueroa and a single by
Cate Welch, the Thunder couldn't break through. Millikin's defense held firm, stranding both players and preserving the shutout.
Both teams then settled into a quieter stretch. The Big Blue were retired in order in the third and fourth innings, while the Thunder struggled to generate sustained offense, managing just one hit between the third and fifth frames. Millikin's offense erupted in the fifth inning, however, by tallying four runs to win the game via the run rule.
Millikin recorded six hits in the contest compared to the Thunder's four. Individually,
Ava Hartnett,
Shylah Dozeman, Figueroa, and Welch each tallied a hit. Dozeman worked the circle, going 4 1⁄3 innings while striking out one batter.
Saturday's second fixture started just like the first, as the Big Blue scored the first four runs in the first inning. Wheaton showed some promise in the top of the first, collecting two hits from
Nori Kang and
Abby Whitehead. With runners on the corners and two outs, the Thunder had a chance to strike first, but a fielder's choice kept the visitors off the scoreboard.
The hosts kept the pressure on in the second with three additional runs, while the Big Blue defense allowed one hit over the next three innings. Millikin added its final run in the fourth frame to eventually pull away with an 8-0 victory.
The Thunder had three hits in game two which came from Hartnett, Kang, and Whitehead, while the Big Blue registered five.
Despite the Thunder missing out on the upcoming CCIW Tournament, there were some noteworthy achievements this spring from a young squad that is set to return most of its personnel in 2027. Whitehead crushed six home runs this season to reach fifteen homers in her career, tying her with Christina Sandstedt for the fourth-most in a Thunder uniform. Hartnett drew 26 walks, tying her with Kelly Pierucki and Katie Yergler for the fourth-most in a single-season for Wheaton. As a team, Wheaton tallied 154 walks in 2026, the second-highest number in a single-season in program history.
