SPOKANE, Wash. –
Tayah Kelley pitched her third career no-hitter in the opener, and
Sophia vanderSommen delivered a game-winning grand slam home run in the nightcap for the Linfield Wildcats, who rolled up 22 runs during a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep of the Whitworth Pirates on Sunday.
The third-ranked Wildcats won the opener 12-0 in five innings before dousing the Pirates 13-5 in the nightcap. Kelley was the winning pitcher in both matchups.
Winning all four games of the series, the Wildcats pushed their season record to a perfect 10-0 and 4-0 in the NWC. For the series, Linfield outscored Whitworth 39-6 and outhit the Pirates by a 50-11 count.
On the day,
Brynn Nelson went 5 for 7, scored four runs and drew two walks.
The Pirates saw their losing streak swell to six games, dropping to 4-12 and 0-4 in the NWC.
GAME 1: Linfield 12, Whitworth 0, 5 innings
Kelley followed up her 10-strikeout performance from Saturday by retiring nine Pirates on strikes. She allowed no hits and just a single walk to pinch hitter Madelyn Cannady in the bottom of the fifth, thwarting the opportunity for a perfect game.
The two-time Linfield All-American raised her season record to 7-0 while surpassing 700 strikeouts for her career.
All nine Linfield batters recorded at least one hit in the contest with
Cydney Hess, Nelson and
Ashley Sutton leading the way with two hits each. The Wildcats smacked four doubles in five innings of work, those coming from Hess, Sutton,
Meara Sain and
Ashlyn Aven.
Pirates starter Momi Lyman absorbed her second loss of the series to fall to 2-6 for the season.
GAME 2: Linfield 13, Whitworth 5
VanderSommen's grand slam home runs helped Linfield recover from a 5-3 deficit and complete the four-game series sweep of Whitworth.
Claire Seats went 4 for 5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Nelson went 3 for 3 and
Jacey Leyvas was 3 for 4. VanderSommen was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and five RBI. All told, the 'Cats amassed 18 hits in the game, including seven which went for extra bases.
Whitworth notched just its second run of the series in the second inning before Linfield evened things up in the third inning on vanderSommen's successful suicide squeeze bunt to score Seats from third base. The 'Cats went in front 3-1 moments later, benefiting from a costly fielding error that allowed vanderSommen and Nelson to score.
Whitworth hitters awoke for a four-run third inning, squaring the game at 3 on a bases-loaded fielding error and a sacrifice RBI by Jazz Johnson. That opened the door for a two-run double by Jessica Rusconi, putting the Pirates in front 5-3.
Linfield tied the score in the top of the fifth, getting an RBI single from Leyvas and a run-scoring double by
Kyla Cross.
The 'Cats went on to load the bases with no outs in the sixth, setting the table for vanderSommen's game-altering homer over the center field wall. On the ensuring at-bat, Leyvas stepped to the plate and blasted a solo home run to nearly the identical spot, putting the Wildcats on top 10-5. For both vanderSommen and Leyvas, it was their first home runs of the season.
Aven added a two-run single in the seventh to complete the scoring.
COMING UP
The Wildcats return to Del Smith Stadium for a four-game weekend series with Pacific Lutheran. Action begins Saturday with a NWC doubleheader at noon. Sunday's doubleheader starts at 11 a.m.
