TACOMA, Wash. – In a year full of unexpected twists and turns, the Linfield Wildcats split a Northwest Conference doubleheader with the Puget Sound Loggers Friday at East Athletic Field.
Linfield (20-2, 9-1 NWC), ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division III this spring, suffered its first setback in more than a month. The Wildcats won the opener on the strength of
Kamryn Mobley's grand slam home run before the Loggers staged a furious late-inning rally to capture the nightcap 7-6.
The upset snapped two lengthy Linfield winning streaks. The Wildcats saw their Division III-leading 18-game win streak halted and brought to an end Linfield's 49-game series win string over the Puget Sound, a run that began midway through the 2006 season.
GAME 1: Linfield 6, Puget Sound 1
One swing of the bat was all the Wildcats needed to defeat the Loggers in the opener.
Kamryn Mobley smacked a grand-slam home run – her first four-run blast as a collegian – to put the 'Cats comfortably ahead in the second inning.
Katrina Johns added an RBI single in the fifth, scoring
Kamryn Apling from third base. Puget Sound notched an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth when Moore reached base on an error and later scored. A run-down of base-runner Wong allowed Noelle Kerr the time to score.
Linfield was held to just six hits. In addition to Mobley and Johns' run-producing knocks, Apling,
Kelsey Wilkinson,
Katie Phillips and
Amanda Reser contributed base hits.
Maddy Podnar earned the complete-game victory in the pitching circle, improving to 9-1. She struck out five and walked one while holding the Loggers to four hits.
GAME 2: Puget Sound 7, Linfield 6
A single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning by Hana DeGuzman brought home the tying and winning runs, capping an improbable comeback by the Loggers from six runs down.
The Wildcats jumped to a 6-0 lead after 4½ innings and appeared to be on cruise control before the Loggers plated seven unanswered runs to shock the top-ranked Wildcats.
Linfield looked to be headed to its 50
th win in the series in the early going. A Mobley double to center field broke the ice, driving in
Baily Paul in the second inning. Wilkinson added to the Wildcats lead with a single to left field moments later that scored Mobley. Paul made it 3-0 in favor of the Wildcats in the third inning, tapping a single up the middle that enabled Apling to reach home plate.
The Wildcats padded their lead in the fourth, as pinch runner
Chloe McDaniel scored on an error and Phillips laced a single to right field that scored Wilkinson. Linfield made the score 6-0 in the fifth, capitalizing on two errors that allow
Abi Proffitt to score.
Puget Sound generated four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Kerr punched an RBI double and Savanna Smith followed with a home run over the left-field fence off the pitch of
Tayah Kelley. A single through the infield by Abbi Wong created enough time for Kelsie Sullivan to score.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Loggers pulled to within one run, 6-5, after Smith hit her second home run of the game.
Kelley suffered her first defeat in 11 career appearances. She struck out nine batters but surrendered 11 hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings.
Jordan Bennett came on in relief in the seventh but was unable to stem the Loggers' late-game momentum.
NEXT
Linfield and Puget Sound complete their four-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.
