BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Linfield University Wildcats rode a rollercoaster of emotions Sunday afternoon at Inspiration Field.
Despite logging 11 hits, four home runs and playing error-free defense, the sixth-ranked Wildcats saw their record-setting softball season come to an abrupt and disappointing conclusion in the semifinal round of the NCAA Division III Championship Finals on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University.
Against the Trine University Thunder, Linfield held three-run leads of 5-2, 7-4 and 9-6 only to see the Thunder rally to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, then win it 10-9 in walkoff fashion in the eighth.
Jo Trine's sacrifice fly to deep center field with two outs provided Ainsley Phillips enough time to score the clinching run, concluding what had been an intense, back-and-forth contest between two top-end Division III programs that included seven combined home runs, boisterous fans, two video replay challenges, and three pitching changes by the winning team.
Trine (44-5) survives and advances to the best-of-three national championship series starting Tuesday versus Virginia Wesleyan, a team that handed the Wildcats an 8-4 setback two days earlier.
Claire Seats went 3 for 4 with a home run and scored three times,
Ashlyn Aven went 2 for 4 with a homer and three RBI.
Cydney Hess and
Kaili Saathoff hit home runs for the Wildcats.
Pitcher
Tyler McNeley gave up seven hits and eight walks against the powerful Thunder lineup. McNeley (32-4) struck out five batters, finishing with 188 Ks for the season.
Linfield ends the campaign at 45-7, matching exactly the win-loss totals of the program's 2007 national championship club. The 2025 team's 108 home runs stands as a new Division III single-season record, breaking by five the national record of 103 held by Linfield's 2011 NCAA championship club.
The 2025 group captured the Northwest Conference regular-season title, NWC Tournament title, McMinnville Regional and Super Regional crowns and advanced to the Championship Finals for the third straight season, matching the run of sustained success only achieved by Linfield's 2010-11-12 teams.
With her 34th start of 2025, McNeley equaled a school record for most games started in a single season, tying Montana McNealy's 10-year-old record set in 2015.
Sunday's outcome marked the end of the softball careers of graduate student
Tyler Warden and eight graduating seniors:
Claire Seats,
Ashley Sutton,
Jacey Leyvas,
Tiani Wayton,
Brynn Nelson,
Kaili Saathoff,
Sophia vanderSommen and
Sydney Ries. The nine Wildcats combined to carry Linfield to a combined record of 179-25, four Northwest Conference titles, three Regional titles, three Super Regional trophies and two top-three finishes at the NCAA Championship Finals.
Seats and Nelson joined a group of just five Linfield softball players to been in the starting lineup for 200 games over the course of their careers. On Sunday, Seats, started her 203rd game in center field while Nelson started at second base for the 201st consecutive game.
Due to their NCAA playoff game schedule, the nine seniors missed Sunday's commencement in McMinnville. Administrators have worked with the athletics department staff of Illinois Wesleyan to stage a mini graduation ceremony Monday morning inside the posh IWU Shirk Athletic Center before the Wildcats embark on their return trip to Oregon.
