WHITTIER, Calif. – Recording six doubles and three home runs in just 10 innings of action, third-ranked Linfield scored early and often on the way to a doubleheader sweep of Whittier Thursday afternoon at Palmer Field. The streaking Wildcats pummeled the host Poets 18-5 and 11-0 in a pair of games shortened to five innings by the eight-run rule.
Brynn Nelson and
Cydney Hess each drove in six runs, and
Claire Seats added five RBIs and scored four times to power the unbeaten Wildcats.
With the sweep, Linfield moved to 18-0 on the season. Whittier (11-8) arrived at Palmer Field having won six of its last seven contests, but departed after being outscored by a combined 29-5 margin.
GAME 1: Linfield 18, Whittier 5, 5 innings
Hess doubled and drove in five runs, Seats swatted her team-leading sixth home run of the season, and
Tayah Kelley secured her 12th pitching victory of the season as the Wildcats put 18 runs on the scoreboard in the opener.
Kelley struck out four batters across three innings of work, spreading around five hits and a walk.
Linfield brought home four runs in the top of the first inning and nine more in the third to open up a commanding 13-0 advantage. Whittier cut the margin to 11 by pushing across two runs in the bottom of the third, but Linfield answered right back with five more tallies in the fourth.
All nine batters in the starting lineup chalked up hits in the game for the 'Cats, who finished with 18 base knocks in the game.
Jacey Leyvas continued her torrid run through her home state, notching three more hits in four trips to the plate. Seats, Hess, Nelson,
Meara Sain,
Kaili Saathoff,
Ashlyn Aven and
Ashley Sutton all registered two hits.
Poets starter Bella Peinado (4-4) took the loss, surrendering 11 hits, 12 earned runs and two walks in 2 2/3 innings of action.
GAME 2: Linfield 11, Whittier 0, 5 innings
A 10-run fifth inning turned a close contest into a rout as the 'Cats asserted their will on Poet pitchers Kiley Kraft and Olivia Nunez.
Nelson got the scoring started in the second inning, drilling her fifth home run of the season over the left field wall. The score remained 1-0 until Linfield erupted for 10 runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.
Saathoff drew a bases-loaded walk to start the scoring spree, then Hess executed a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score pinch runner
Annika Dayberry. Seats followed by slicing a two-run single through the infield, and Nelson drilled a double down the left-field line to push the Wildcats' advantage to 7-0. Tiana Wayton laced a two-run single to push the score to 9-0 before Sutton put the finishing touches on the Poets with a lofting home run over the left field fence.
Nelson paced the 'Cats offensively with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Sutton added a pair of hits, including her first solo home run of the year in the fifth.
Linfield starter
Tyler McNeley improved to 5-0 with her first complete-game shutout. The freshman righthander held Whittier to just two hits.
Kraft, the Whittier starter, took the loss to fall to 4-2. She gave up three hits, one walk and four earned runs before being replaced in the fifth by Nunez.
AHEAD
Linfield continues its three-day tour of Southern California with a visit to Claremont-Mudd-Scripts on Friday. The Wildcats and Athenas square off in a doubleheader beginning at noon on the CMS campus.
