McMINNVILLE, Ore. – An early hitting spree by the Linfield Wildcats snowballed on the Whitworth Pirates in a winners bracket the Northwest Conference Softball Tournament Saturday at Del Smith Stadium.
 
The NWC regular-season champion Wildcats piled up 14 hits during an 11-1 dismantling of the NWC runner-up Pirates. Linfield pitching ace Shelby Saylors held the Pirates to just a single hit with the outcome well in hand in the sixth inning and Linfield leading 11-0.

The Wildcats advanced to Sunday's championship game where they'll again face Whitworth at 2 p.m. A second game, if necessary, will follow at 4:30.
 
Linfield scored three runs on Whitworth starter Madelyn Carlson, who was pulled before recording a single out in favor of Drea Schwaier-Wolf. She lasted one inning before turning the game over to Rose Meshell. Linfield's bat feasted on Meshell, pounding 10 hits and scoring seven earned runs across the final three innings.
 
Five Wildcats enjoyed multi-hit games, led by a 3-for-3 effort by Maddy Colson. Kelsey Wilkinson, Abi Proffit, Paige Smotherman and Makenna Clizer all had a pair of hits for the 'Cats. Darian Stedman drilled her NCAA-leading 19th double of the season, one of six two-bag hits by Linfield in the game. Proffitt hit her 10th home run, capping a four-run first inning.
 
Michelle Silva accounted for Whitworth's lone run with a solo homer in the sixth, her fifth of the season.
 
Linfield, ranked fifth in the most recent NFCA Top 25 poll, raised its season record to 34-6-1. Whitworth saw its record slip to 30-10.