BLOOMINGTON, Ill. –
Claire Seats clobbered two home runs and
Ashlyn Aven added a three-run bases-clearing blast, helping carry the Linfield Wildcats to an impressive 11-3 run-rule victory over the Saint Mary's (Minn.) Cardinals Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Division III Championship Finals at Inspiration Field on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University.
Linfield (44-5) advances to play top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan Friday at 11 a.m. CDT / 9 a.m. PDT. Saint Mary's (44-6) drops into an elimination game Friday versus Randolph-Macon at 1:30 p.m. CDT / 11:30 a.m. PDT.
Saint Mary's notched the game's first run in the opening frame on a sacrifice bunt by Berg in the top of the first inning that allowed Stigler to score from third base.
It didn't' take long for the Wildcats to assert command. Linfield rung up five runs in the bottom of the first, getting run-scoring doubles from
Kaili Saathoff and
Brynn Nelson, followed by Aven's three-run homer, her 14th of the season, to center field that put the Wildcats in front 5-1 before the game was even 15 minutes old.
SMU's Kenzie Gatz drove home Alexandra Gerber in the second to cut the Linfield advantage to three runs, but the Wildcats again answered quickly with Seats' first homer of the day, a three-run bomb over the center field wall to make the score 8-2.
The Cardinals added one last run in third on Makayla Steffes' homer to center field, but again the 'Cats responded with multiple runs in the bottom of the frame, this time with Seats' second homer and
Tiani Wayton's RBI single that scored pinch runner
Kaia Young.
Wildcats pitching ace
Tyler McNeley (31-2) looked comfortable throughout the contest. She scattered six hits and two walks in the five-inning contest. In logging her 31st win of 2025, she moved ahead of Montana McNealy's 30 wins to No. 3 on Linfield's single-season victories ladder and is within reach of
Tayah Kelley's all-time record of 33 wins set in 2023.
Steffes, who began the game in the circle for the Cardinals, took the loss to fall to 21-5. She faced just three batters and was chased from the game before recording a single out.
Steffes did account for two of Saint Mary's six hits.
Linfield piled up 11 hits with Seats, Wayton,
Brynn Nelson and
Cydney Hess all registering two hits. Seats finished with five RBIs while climbing to No. 2 on Linfield's single-season ladder for RBIs (82) and home runs (22), passing four-time Wildcats All-American Staci Doucette in both categories.
Seats,
Meara Sain and
Kaili Saathoff each logged a pair of runs to lead the Wildcats in the scoring column.
In other games Thursday, Virginia Wesleyan blanked Randolph-Macon 8-0 in five innings, Rowan held Texas Lutheran scoreless for a 5-0 victory, and Redlands faced Trine in the late contest.
