COLUMBUS, Ga. – Second-ranked Linfield piled up 29 runs on Sunday, defeating two opponents at the NFCA Leadoff Classic to emerge as one of four programs at the 24-team tournament to finish with a 5-1 record.
Facing a 10-4 deficit in the fifth inning against an unranked Denison (Ohio) team, the Wildcats used the long ball to secure a 12-10 comeback victory. The game featured five Linfield home runs, one short of the program single-game record.
Later Sunday afternoon, Linfield pounded 16 hits en route to a 17-3 thumping of St. John Fisher (N.Y.).
Linfield pitching ace
Tyler McNeley earned both victories in the circle on Sunday – one in a starting role, the other in relief. She wrapped up the tournament with a 3-1 record.
Slugger
Cydney Hess was named to the Leadoff Classic All-Tournament Team after hitting a torrid .474 with four home runs and 12 RBIs.
GAME 1: Linfield 12, Denison 10
Five different Wildcats hit homers in the game, but it was
Brynn Nelson's bomb to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning with Linfield trailing 10-4 that seemed perhaps most significant. Her two-run blast touched off an eight-run scoring spree over the final two frames that also saw game-clinching home runs sail off the bats of
Jacey Leyvas and
Ashley Sutton in the sixth.
Pitching the final 2 2/3 innings, McNeley struck out five batters in relief of Aven. She held the Big Red to just one hit while the Wildcats were capitalizing off of eight hits over the same span.
GAME 2: Linfield 17, St. John Fisher 3, 5 innings.
Sain, Nelson and Hess all chalked up three hits in the contest and
Ashlyn Aven hit a home run, her first of the season, to fuel a 17-run barrage.
On Sunday,
Brynn Nelson went 6 for 8 at the plate and scored five runs, including a home run, and
Meara Sain was 5 for 7 with a pair of doubles and five RBIs.
Linfield led 10-1 after two winnings and never looked back.
McNeley pitched all five innings, yielding six hits while striking out four batters and walking two.
NEXT
The Wildcats open Northwest Conference play at home with a four-game weekend series against Whitworth. Doubleheader action begins begins Saturday at noon and Sunday at 11 a.m.
