Box Score Wheaton, Ill. – The elements just keep getting in the way of softball games between North Park University and Wheaton College. After North Park took care of business in game one, winning 9-4, game two was halted after the seventh inning, with the score tied 4-4, due to darkness.
Game 1
Alyssa Malicki gave the Thunder headaches all day, picking up the pitching win as well as slapping a two-run homer in the third inning. Her catcher, Erin Penn, got the scoring starting in the first, though, when Penn hit a two-RBI single scoring Ellie Manderfeld and Caitlyn Webb to catapult the Vikings to a 2-0 lead. Wheaton knotted the score at two in the bottom of the second, setting the stage for Malicki's two-run bomb that game North Park a lead they would never surrender. Penn followed that moonball with a double, and Emily Reczek was able to bring her home by reaching on an error. Webb added to the lead making it 6-3 when she hit a double scoring Nicole Donnawell. In the seventh, the final insurance runs were added when Reczek brought home Olivia Davis and Rachael Feazelle on an error, only for Brigid Early to bring Reczek home on a base hit right after. Malicki threw all seven innings, striking out five and allowing three earned runs in the 9-4 Viking win.
Game 2
North Park was down 2-0 going into the bottom of the third, when Manderfeld sparked the offense, getting on with a bunt single. Two batters later, Alyssa Aragon hit a double that scored Manderfeld and got the Vikings on the board. Feazelle would drive Aragon home right after that to even the score at two. Then, after loading the bases Reczek and Early would each get RBI knocks to make it 4-2 NPU. Wheaton answered with a lone run inning in the top of the fourth, and another single run in the sixth, and the score stayed at 4-4 through the end of the seventh when the game was halted due to darkness. The game will be finished at a later date.
What's Next?
North Park (11-7, 5-7 CCIW) will get less than a day off as they travel up to Wisconsin tomorrow, April 13th, for a battle with CCIW foe Carroll University. First pitch for that doubleheader is 3 p.m.
