The Aurora University softball team returned to the field on Wednesday afternoon for their first home games of the 2024 season, squaring off against the Thunder of Wheaton College in a doubleheader on Bedrosian Field. The Spartans took game one in dramatic fashion 5-3 following a walk-off three-run home run from Jordan Seyfried in extra innings. AU then completed the sweep of the Thunder after taking game two 8-0 in five innings, which also now raises the Spartan winning streak to seven games on the young season.


Game One Score: Aurora University 5, Wheaton College 3 - 8 innings
Game Two Score: Aurora University 8, Wheaton College 0 - 5 innings
Record: Aurora University 8-1 overall; Wheaton College 5-5 overall
Location: Bedrosian Stadium - Montgomery, Illinois


GAME ONE:
- Game one played to a scoreless first two innings with no hits on either side.
- Wheaton scored the game's first run in the top-of-the third.
- AU answered right back in their half of the third when Tyler Chambers singled home Isabel Morales.
- Spartan starter Rylee Campbell worked her way around a bases loaded jam in the fourth to keep the score knotted at one.
- Aubrey Ortiz started an AU rally in the fifth after a lead-off double, before scoring on a Chambers sac-fly that made it 2-1 Spartans.
- Wheaton tied the score at 2 in the sixth inning.
- The score stayed a 2 going into extra innings, before Wheaton broke that tie with one run in the top-of-the eighth.
- Kionna King singled to open AU's half of the eighth, before Casey Brennan walked a couple of batters later making it first and second with one out.
- Jordan Seyfried then clubbed a three-run homer to left-center field, scoring King and Brennan and giving AU the 5-3 game one victory.

GAME TWO:
- Casey Brennan came around to score on an error in the second inning giving AU an early 1-0 lead.
- The Spartans grabbed an early 2-0 lead later in the second after Alex Thiel drew a bases loaded walk.
- Two innings later, Thiel started an AU rally with an RBI single that scored Faith Biggs.
- The score became 4-0 a batter later when Kionna King laced a double that brought home Thiel.
- King came around to score on a wild pitch making it 5-0 AU.
- With AU still rallying in the bottom-of-the fourth, Brennan singled back up the middle that scored Isabel Morales giving the Spartans a 6-0 lead.
- Emma Lytton put AU up 8-0 after cranking a two-run bomb that scored Brennan.
- After giving up two hits in the first inning, Spartan starter Madelyn Buske did not allow a base runner the rest of the way.
- This guided AU to the 8-0 game two victory in five innings.


GAME ONE:
HITTING
HITS: Nine Different Spartans (1)
DOUBLE:  Aubrey Ortiz (1)
HOME RUN: Jordan Seyfried (1)
RUNS: Kionna King, Casey Brennan, Jordan Seyfried, Aubrey Ortiz and Isabel Morales
RUNS BATTED IN: Jordan Seyfried (3) and Tyler Chambers (2)

PITCHING:
APPEARANCES (innings): Rylee Campbell (7.1)
DECISIONS: Megan Murphy (win, 1-0) 
STRIKEOUTS: Rylee Campbell (2)

GAME TWO:
HITTING
HITS: Faith Biggs (2)
DOUBLE:  Kionna King (1)
HOME RUN: Emma Lytton (1)
RUNS: Casey Brennan (2)
RUNS BATTED IN: Alex Thiel and Emma Lytton (2)

PITCHING:
APPEARANCES (innings): Madelyn Buske (5.0)
DECISIONS: Madelyn Buske (1-0 win)
STRIKEOUTS: Madelyn Buske (1)