TACOMA, Wash. – For the second straight day, Linfield and Pacific Lutheran took turns beating one another, wrapping up the Wildcats' most competitive Northwest Conference softball series of the 2022 season.
Linfield (26-7, 17-3 NWC) used the home run ball to forge a 9-3 victory in Sunday's opening game. PLU (20-12, 12-8 NWC) answered with a 5-3 win in the afternoon's closing contest.
Katie Phillips contributed four hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in three runs to pace the 12th-ranked Wildcats. Phillps hit .600 during the four-game series, going 9 for 15 at the plate with three doubles, one home run and eight RBI.
GAME 1: Linfield 9, Pacific Lutheran 3
The Wildcats clubbed three home runs in the game, beginning with a two-run blast to center field by
Baily Paul just minutes into the first inning.
Linfield built a 4-0 lead in the top of the third, only to see PLU draw to within 4-3 in the bottom of the inning.
A home run by
Ashley Sutton and two-run double from Phillips put the 'Cats back in control, 7-3.
Brynn Nelson drilled her fourth home run of the season over the left-field wall in the seventh, putting the icing on the cake.
Phillips continued her weekend tear at the plate, going 3 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Paul went 2 for 3 and scored twice.
Wildcats pitcher
Tayah Kelley held the Lutes to four hits and a couple of walks on the way to her 16th win of the season. She struck out six PLU batters, becoming just the seventh pitcher in Linfield softball history to surpass 300 career strikeouts.
Kennedy Kila (4-4) took the loss for PLU. She gave up five hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. Erin McGrath went 2 for 2 with a walk to lead the Lutes offensively.
GAME 2: Pacific Lutheran 5, Linfield 2
Linfield fell into a 4-0 deficit after three complete innings and never recovered.
Lutes pitcher Cassidy Conrad earned her second victory over the Wildcats of the weekend, holding Linfield to a season-low three base hits.
Phillips,
Kamryn Mobley and
Katrina Johns generated the Wildcats' only hits of the game.
The Lutes' Mari Foster went 3 for 4 and scored two runs, leading a seven-hit PLU attack.
Tyler Warden (6-2) was tagged with just her second loss of the season. She issued six walks and conceded three hits to PLU in just 2 2/3 innings.
Hailey Wadsworth finished the game in relief. Combined, the two Wildcat hurlers managed to log just one strikeout.
NEXT
Linfield returns to Del Smith Stadium for a four-game weekend series against Puget Sound. Saturday's twinbill begins at noon. Sunday's contests start at 11 a.m.
