McMINNVILLE, Ore. – An anticipated battle of West Coast softball adversaries went decided in Linfield's favor, as the eighth-ranked Wildcats dominated visiting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a nonconference doubleheader Monday afternoon at Del Smith Stadium.
 
Linfield blanked CMS 7-0 in the opener before the Wildcats bounced the Athenas 11-3 in the run-rule shortened finale.
 
Linfield moved to 12-2 for the season. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps saw its record dip to 7-6-1.
 
GAME 1: Linfield 7, Claremont-M-S 0
Linfield pitching ace Tyler McNeley spun a one-hit gem, striking out six Athenas on the way to her fourth shutout and fifth victory of the season.
 
Linfield wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Meara Sain doubled before the game was five minutes old. She then was driven home by Ashlyn Aven's RBI single moments later.
 
Emily Foytack, pinch hitting for Kya Lindell at the bottom of the order, drilled a three-run home run over the right-field wall in the second inning, pushing the Wildcats' lead to 4-0. For Foytack, a sophomore from Longview, Washington, it marked her first collegiate home run.
 
Keira Sullivan added two runs in the third, launching a lofting single to left field that scored Kaia Young and Lexiss Antle, making the score 6-0.
 
Breanna Bartek tripled to center field in the fifth before being driven home by Sain with very next at-bat.
 
McNeley held the Athenas without a hit until Rachel Saperstein tapped a grounder through the middle of the infield in the fifth.
 
Linfield outhit CMS 11-1. The Wildcats stranded eight base runners.
 
Hannah Adams (5-2) went the distance in the circle for the Athenas, registering three strikeouts and walking two Wildcats.
 
GAME 2: Linfield 11, Claremont-M-S 3, 5 innings
Young smacked her second roundtripper of the season and drove in four runs, including the walk-off winner, and Destiny Cornwell struck out a career-high six batters as the Wildcats rallied from a three-run, first-inning deficit to complete the sweep the nonconference twinbill.
 
Brianna Bartek went 2 for 3 at the plate, scoring three runs while adding a pair of RBIs. Cydney Hess and Aven also contributed a pair of base hits for the 'Cats, who totaled 12 hits and drew six walks in the nightcap.
 
Cornwell confined the Athenas to four hits and one walk to raise her season record to 4-0.
 
CMS starter Perri Derian (1-1) took the loss. Giving up five hits, four walks and six earned runs, Derian lasted just 1 1/3 innings before being replaced by Ella Yerkes in the second. Yerkes finished the game in relief, holding the Wildcats to three hits and two walks. The Athenas' pitching duo managed just one strikeout while surrendering three doubles and a home run.
 
AHEAD
The Wildcats host the St. Benedict Bennies in another nonconference doubleheader Thursday at 4 p.m. at Del Smith Stadium.
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