TACOMA, Wash. –
Tyler McNeley spun a four-hitter in the pitching circle and
Meara Sain went 2 for 3 at the plate, including a home run, to carry the Linfield Wildcats to 6-2 Northwest Conference victory over Pacific Lutheran at the PLU softball field on Sunday.
Linfield, ranked second in the most recent NFCA Top 25 poll, improved to 11-1 and 6-0 in the NWC. PLU saw its record slip to 10-4 and 0-2 in conference play.
Heavy rain in the area had caused havoc with the series schedule, allowing the Wildcats and Lutes to play just single games on Friday and Sunday, rather than the customary twin doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
The makeup date and time for the remaining two games is yet to be determined.
McNeley (7-1) struck out five Lutes and allowed no earned runs and no walks to earn her second complete-game victory of the series.
Sunday's contest remained a scoreless affair through the better part of four innings, matching the pitching prowess of McNeley and Lutes graduate student Rachael Rhinehart. PLU plated its only two runs on a pair of Linfield miscues in bottom of the fourth. Zoe Smithson and Kamalani Doctor each tapped hits to put runners on base, before Smithson scored on an error and Doctor capitalized on a wild pitch to reach home plate.
The Wildcats answered with Sain's game-tying swing of the bat in the top of the fifth. After
Tiani Wayton drew a leadoff walk to begin in the frame, Sain drilled a home run – her first of the season – over the left field wall to knot the score at 2.
Minutes later,
Brynn Nelson gave Linfield a 3-2 lead with an RBI single on a sharply hit grounder through the infield, scoring
Kaili Saathoff from second base.
Cydney Hess followed with an RBI single, sending
Claire Seats home from third.
Jacey Leyvas then extended the Wildcats' advantage to 5-2 with a single through the right side that scored pinch runner
Breanna Bartek.
In the sixth, the Wildcats added an insurance run when Sain scored on a wild pitch to make the score 6-2.
Rhinehart (3-1) absorbed her first defeat of 2025, striking out out four Wildcats but walking eight batters and giving up six earned runs, five hits and four wild pitches.
NEXT
For the moment at least, the Wildcats have a 12-day breather in their schedule before packing their bags for a spring break trip to California where they'll face Cal Lutheran (March 28), La Verne (March 29) and Redlands (March 30) in succession.
