McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Home runs by
Brynn Nelson,
Cydney Hess and
Jacey Leyvas carried the Linfield Wildcats to a lopsided 12-2 victory over the Lewis & Clark Pioneers in the semifinals of the McMinnville Oregon Regional Friday at Del Smith Stadium.
Linfield (40-5) advances to the regional championship game Saturday at noon where the the Wildcats will square off against the Chapman Panthers (33-13) for the regional championship. The Panthers will need to defeat the Wildcats twice in order to claim the regional crown and advance to the Super Regional May 22-23.
Playing as the designated visiting team on their home field, the Wildcats put up four runs on the Pioneers in the top of the first inning and never looked back.
Claire Seats led off the scoring by driving home her 260th career run, moving past four-time All-American and Hall of Famer Staci Doucette to become Linfield's alltime leader in that statistical category.
Moments later, Leyvas's three-run homer proved to be a sign of things to come in what would end up being another Linfield hitting clinic. The Wildcats scored runs in all five innings of the contest, shortened to five innings by the eight-run rule.
Trialing 7-0 in the third inning, Lewis & Clark scored its only runs in the bottom of the frame as Gina Ozuna and Madison Scroggins each tapped RBI singles to cut the deficit to five runs.
After watching the Pioneers rally from a three-run deficit a night earlier to knock off Chapman, Linfield kept the pressure on their Northwest Conference counterparts, pushing across three runs in the fourth thanks in part to
Brynn Nelson's two-run homer. The 'Cats added two more in the fifth when
Meara Sain and
Kaili Saathoff each logged RBIs to seal the Wildcats' 40th win of the season.
Saathoff went 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs, Leyvas had a double in addition to her 15 home run of the season and finished with four RBIs, and Hess and Sain each added a pair of hits. Linfield outhit Lewis & Clark 13-7 on the day.
Wildcats ace
Tyler McNeley pushed her season record to 27-2. Though she allowed seven hits, she did not concede a single walk while striking out two Pioneers and stranding four.
Emily Patton had two hits to pace L&C at the plate.
After losing to Linfield, L&C dropped into an elimination game late Friday against Chapman, which dealt the Pioneers a 10-1 defeat to end their storybook season.
