TYLER, Texas – Linfield College pitcher Shelby Saylors held the top hitting team in Division III without a run, lifting the No. 9 Wildcats past third-ranked Texas-Tyler Friday afternoon in Game 1 of the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional at Suddenlink Field.
 
The two teams square off again Saturday at 1 p.m. CDT (11 a.m. PDT). A Linfield win would catapult the Wildcats to next week's NCAA Finals in Oklahoma City, Okla. UT-Tyler must defeat Linfield twice in order to advance to the Finals for the fourth straight season.
 
Linfield (39-8) won its 11th consecutive game, seven of them in the playoffs, while breaking a four-game losing series streak to UT-Tyler stretching back to the 2015 season.
 
"It feels good," said Wildcats coach Jackson Vaughan after leading Linfield to its first win on the Patriots home field in five tries. "We've played here a lot and lost a lot of tough games over the years. We know Tyler is a tremendous team. As good as Tyler's offense is, to hold them in check for most of the game was an outstanding pitching performance by Shelby."
 
Saylors struck out five Patriots and scattered five hits and two walks on the way to her 24th win of the season.
 
"Going in, I knew they were a good hitting team. I just focused on hitting my spots," said Saylors.
 
The game was a scoreless standoff until Linfield's half of the fourth inning. Emily Allen singled, then was pushed to second base by a grounder from Darian Stedman. An error by UTT third baseman Theresa Gonzales enabled Allen to reach third. The Patriots attempted to pick off pinch runner Jocelyn Newton at second base as Allen headed for home. A close play at the plate was ruled catcher's interference, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 advantage.
 
The Wildcats added two insurance runs in the sixth. Cheyenne Fletcher led off with a standup double to right-center field and scored on a error by UTT shortstop Hannah Moore. Stedman then looped a single to center, buying Allen ample time to score from third.
 
UTT starter Colleen Bentke, a first team all-West Region honoree, was saddled with the loss to fall to 23-3 in the circle. Bentke lasted five innings before being chased from the game in favor of Miranda Leal, who held the 'Cats to one hit and no runs across the final two frames.
 
Allen notched one hit and scored two of the Wildcats' three runs. Fletcher, Stedman, Clizer, Melanie Oord and Chelsea Horita also recorded base hits in the game.
 
UT-Tyler (41-3) suffered its first shutout in three seasons. The last time the Patriouts were held without a run was May 25, 2015, a 2-0 loss to Tufts, that season's national champion.
 
'CAT SCRATCH: Temperature at game time was 95 degrees. . . Friday's attendance was 375. . . four Wildcats – Fletcher, Allen, Oord and Clizer were named to the all-West Region team released earlier this week. . . Linfield has reached the NCAA Finals six times previously, the most recent entry coming in 2015.