The Wheaton women’s softball team has had a challenging start to their season. Last year’s team was anchored by four seniors who have moved on, leaving the current roster with only one current senior, Abby Butler, and only three juniors.
Last year’s team set many records and had quite an impressive post-season as one of the best Wheaton softball team of all time, statistically speaking. The expectation for this year’s team is to follow in that pattern. Thus far, though, the expectations for the team have been somewhat disappointed.
The schedule for this year is primarily comprised of away games which continues to test the endurance of the team on and off the field. They have played a significant 14 games in the past three weeks, but have only won three. The season started with a trip to Florida to face 10 schools in the annual Spring Games held at the National Training Center. The Thunder pulled out a come-from-behind 3-2 win over University of Northwestern and a decisive 6-1 win over John Carrol University, but unfortunately lost the other eight games.
On the positive side, the majority of the losses this season have been by fewer than three runs. Wheaton has been competitive in most of the games the team has played, they just have been unable to “seal the deal” at the end.
There are 26 more games on the Thunder schedule this season, all of which are double headers. These provide perfect opportunities for improvement as the team looks ahead to the CCIW tournament. Thunder fans are hopeful the girls will be able to rally together by the beginning of May after the team’s rough start in order to defend the school’s first ever CCIW Championship, earned during the 2016 season.