CLAREMONT, Calif. – Third-ranked Linfield completed a successful weekend of softball in Southern California, sweeping the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens one day after taking both ends of the doubleheader with the Redlands Bulldogs.
Saturday afternoon at Wig Beach Field on the Pomona-Pitzer campus, Linfield defeated the homestanding Sagehens 11-1 and 11-3 in five innings to move to 4-0 for the season.
GAME 1: Linfield 11, Pomona-Pitzer 1
Tyler McNeley struck out five Sagehens while holding the hosts to just three hits over seven innings of action to pick up her second victory of the weekend.
Meara Sain and
Lexiss Antle each went 3 for 4 at the plate, while
Ashlyn Aven and
McKenna Parmelee both clubbed home runs to lead a 13-hit Linfield attack. Sain doubled twice, drove in three runs, and drew one walk.
Cydney Hess went 2 for 5 with an RBI.
The Wildcats also capitalized on five Pomona-Pitzer errors.
Sagehens starter Ava Bautista took the lost. She lasted just three innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs before being replaced by Nyla Springer. Yuri Song, Kylie Liu and Gianna Phillips accounted for Pomona-Pitzer's three hits.
Pomona-Pitzer plated its only run in the second inning but it was all Linfield after that. The 'Cats rolled up four runs in the third inning, added single tallies in the fourth and sixth innings, before ringing up another five runs in the seventh.
GAME 2: Linfield 11, Pomona-Pitzer 3, 5 innings
Linfield pushed across four runs in the top of the first inning to put take early command and eventually opened up a 6-1 advantage after 3½ innings. The 'Cats put the finishing touches on the rout with a run-rule shortened game with a five-run burst in the fifth inning.
First-year starters
Breanna Bartek,
McKenna Parmelee, and
Kaia Young all contributed two hits to the 11-hit Linfield effort. Hess pounded her third home run of the weekend and drew three walks.
Freshman pitcher
Destiny Cornwell struck out four Sagehens in her five innings of action. She scattered six hits and walked three batters while raising her record to 2-0.
COMING UP
The Wildcats (4-0) open Northwest Conference play in nearby Newberg with a four-game series against the George Fox Bruins. On Saturday, the two teams will play a doubleheader at Morse Field starting at noon, before returning to play a twinbill beginning at 11 a.m.
