McMINNVILLE, Ore. –
Jacey Leyvas blasted a grand slam home run and
Claire Seats doubled and drove in three runs to equal an alltime record with her 259th career RBI, powering the Linfield Wildcats to a convincing 12-2 victory over Johnson & Wales-Providence (R.I.) in the opening game of the McMinnville Oregon Regional Thursday at Del Smith Stadium.
Linfield (39-5) advances to play Northwest Conference foe Lewis & Clark (32-11) in a winners bracket game Friday at noon. Johnson & Wales falls into an elimination game Friday Chapman (31-10) at 2:30 p.m. Lewis & Clark rallied from a 4-1 deficit to hand Chapman a 7-4 loss in Thursday's other opening-round game.
Linfield, which entered the NCAA postseason leading all Division III programs in home runs (85) and scoring (398), hit three homers and scored a dozen times. In additional to Leyvas's 14th homer of the season,
Ashlyn Aven (12th homer) and
Ashley Sutton (8) cleared the outfield fence, with all three home runs coming on successive at-bats as part of a monster seven-run second inning.
Linfield opened up a 5-0 advantage in the first inning, getting four hits and coaxing a pair of walks off JWU starting pitcher Katie Scheid to open up the game. The inning included a two-run double by Seats and a two-run triple from
Tiani Wayton.
Linfield outhit Johnson & Wales 8-3 in the game. The Wildcats from Providence, Rhode Island, pushed across their only runs of the game in the top of the fifth inning after
Tyler Warden relieved Wildcats starter
Tyler McNeley. Jessica Forneiro scored on an RBI single by Hailey Martins, then Mackenzie Clee added a sacrifice RBI to plate Danielle Floyd for the final run.
Seats went 2 for 2 with a double and scored a pair of runs to lead Linfield offensively. Six other Linfield batters registered hits.
McNeley improved to 26-2 in the circle. She struck out three batters and walked one in four innings of action.
Schied gave up four hits and five walks in just 1 1/3 innings of work before being replaced by Jill Reed.
Macy Pagano, Forneiro and Martins accounted for JWU's only hits of the game.
