SPOKANE, Wash. – Cheyenne Fletcher launched two home runs, powering the No. 25 Linfield Wildcats to a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep of the Whitworth Pirates on Saturday at Diana Marks Field.
 
Fletcher finished the afternoon with four hits, four RBI, five runs scored plus a couple of stolen bases. Linfield pitchers Shelby Saylors and Eliza Rossman threw complete-game victories, helping the Wildcats come away with three wins in the four-game series.
 
With the road sweep, the Wildcats boosted their NWC record to 17-3 and 25-7 overall. Linfield remained one game back of frontrunner George Fox in the NWC standings heading into the final two weekends of conference play. Whitworth slipped to 10-8 in league play, 17-13 overall.
 
GAME 1: Linfield 15, Whitworth 6
Fletcher and Darian Stedman each swatted home runs and Linfield amassed 16 hits on the way to the lopsided opening-game outcome.
 
Tied at 5, the Wildcats scored twice in the fifth inning, then added three runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
 
Shelby Saylors (11-5) earned her second complete-game pitching victory of the weekend over the Pirates. Though she allowed 13 hits, Whitworth generated just six hits. Saylors fired 77 strikes among her 116 total pitches, fanning four batters while yielding just one walk.
 
Offensively, Stedman, Melanie Oord and Paige Smotherman all accounted for three hits. Oord doubled and drove in four runs, Stedman hit her team-leading eighth home run, and Fletcher had a pair of hits, including her seventh homer of the spring.
 
Whitworth ace Madelyn Carlson was saddled with the loss, her second to the Wildcats after a 12-4 start. In addition to yielding 16 hits to Linfield, Carlson walked five Wildcats while striking out one.
 
GAME 2: Linfield 5, Whitworth 4
Fletcher drilled her second home run of the day in the top of the fifth, giving Linfield the offense it needed to complete a sweep of the Easter weekend doubleheader.
 
With Linfield held to six hits, Fletcher went 2 for 3 and scored twice. Jacinda Swiger smacked a triple while Oord, Smotherman and Stedman also registered base hits.
 
Eliza Rossman bounced back from her first defeat of the spring on Saturday, striking out three, walking four while scattering seven hits. The freshman righthander pitched the full seven innings, improving to 14-1.
 
Pirates reliever Kaylee Rosenbaum took the loss. She took over for starter Ashley Trueblood and threw the final 2 1/3 innings.
 
Kaylee Lowery picked up a pair of hits for Whitworth.
 
Next
Linfield returns home to Del Smith Stadium for a four-game weekend series with the Pacific Boxers. Doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday start at noon.