MARSHALL, Texas – It was a day of upsets Thursday at Taylor Field. Four favored teams were all dealt losses on the opening day of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship on the campus of East Texas Baptist University.
The list of casualties included the Linfield Wildcats, whose eight-game winning streak was broken by Coe College (Iowa), which strung together a flurry of late-inning hits on the way to a 3-0 shutout of the Wildcats. Top-seeded Salisbury, defending champion Christoper Newport, and last season's NCAA runner-up Trine also suffered surprising defeats.
Linfield All-America pitcher
Tayah Kelley had been riding a string of 31 scoreless innings before the Kohawks caught fire with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to break open what had been a scoreless battle.
Coe starting pitcher Ellie Thurow held Linfield to just two hits on the day. She struck out two batters and yielded no walks, improving to 14-4 on the season.
Kelley (33-2) was saddled with just her second loss of the season, surrendering seven hits and a pair of walks in the 85-degree Texas heat.
Katie Phillips and
Cydney Hess generated Linfield's two hits.
The Wildcats' best scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Kaili Saathoff was hit by a pitch to open the frame before Phillips singled, putting two aboard.
Claire Seats then delivered a sacrifice bunt to push the runners to second and third base with one out. But
Brynn Nelson and Hess both fouled off balls that were collared by Coe infielders for the second and third outs, stranding Saathoff and Phillips.
Linfield (46-5), falls into an elimination game Friday versus Trine (Ind.), which lost 11-4 to Rowan (N.J.) in Thursday's late game. The Wildcats and the Thunder (40-5) meet at 1:30 p.m. CDT (11:30 a.m. PDT) in a loser-out contest.
