TACOMA, Wash. – Top-ranked Linfield chalked up a pair of Northwest Conference wins over a resilient Puget Sound squad Saturday afternoon at East Athletic Field.
After the Loggers snapped the Wildcats' 18-game win streak with a late rally on Friday, the Wildcats turned the tables on their Northwest Conference counterparts, coming from three runs down in the opener to win 17-14 in eight innings. The nightcap was no contest as Linfield pounded Puget Sound 15-0 in five innings, raising its record to 22-2 overall and 11-1 in the NWC.
The sweep of the Loggers put longtime Linfield coach
Jackson Vaughan within one victory of reaching the 700 career-win plateau. In his 20th season, Vaughan's record stands at 699-173-2.
Though the Wildcats gave up 22 runs to the Loggers during the four-game series, they scored 44 times themselves.
GAME 1: Linfield 17, Puget Sound 14
Kelsey Wilkinson and
Amanda Reser combined for clutch hits in the eighth inning, powering the Wildcats past the Loggers in a contest that produced video game-like numbers with 29 hits and 31 runs.
After Abi Proffit homered to lead off the extra frame, Reser delivered a single through the left side to push across the winning run. Wilkinson added a pair of insurance runs on the next at-bat, hitting her third home run of the season.
Linfield led 11-5 after 3½ innings before Puget Sound exploded for nine runs in the fifth to take a 14-11 lead. The Wildcats answered with
Katrina Johns' sacrifice RBI the sixth, plus RBIs by Wilkinson and
Katie Phillips in the seventh to force extra innings.
Wilkinson went 3 for 5 in the game, scored four times and drove in three runs. Reser had her best game in a Wildcats uniform, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Phillips,
Kamryn Apling and
Baily Paul all contributed a pair of base hits in the game.
GAME 2: Linfield 12, Puget Sound 0, 5 innings
Phillips, Wilkinson and Johns all notched three hits as the Wildcats amassed 15 hits in the abbreviated contest, shortened to five innings by the eight-run rule.
The Wildcats scored at least two runs in all five innings, including four-run outbursts in both the first and second innings to seize command early.
Tayah Kelley (8-1) rebounded from her first pitching defeat of the season with a two-hit, complete-game masterpiece. She fanned eight batters without yielding a walk and needed just 73 pitches to retire the Loggers. The Wildcats played error-free behind Kelley, never allowing a Logger past first base.
NEXT
Linfield hosts Lewis & Clark in a four-game NWC series starting Saturday at noon. The series continues Sunday with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
