McMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield Wildcats went to their bread-and-butter offensive play – the home run –against the Puget Sound Loggers on Saturday. The eighth-ranked Wildcats, eager to atone for their first consecutive defeats of the season last weekend at Pacific Lutheran, clobbered a combined seven home runs during a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep of the Loggers at sun-splashed Del Smith Stadium.
 
The Wildcats beat the Loggers 10-4 and 10-0 in a truncated five-inning nightcap.
 
Linfield (32-6, 20-6 NWC) took over sole possession of second place in the NWC standings after Lewis & Clark split its Saturday twinbill with Pacific.
 
Puget Sound (5-31, 3-23 NWC) dropped its ninth straight contest.
 
GAME 1: Linfield 10, Puget Sound 4
McKenna Parmelee drilled two homers and finished with five RBIs to power the Wildcats past the Loggers in the opening game of the series.
 
Breanna Bartek went 3 for 4 at the plate and scored two runs, and Kaia Young was 2 for 4 and added a pair of runs for Linfield.
 
In Bartek, Ashlyn Aven, Meara Sain, and Parmelee all contributed doubles in the contest. Emily Foytack smacked her sixth home run of the season.
 
Going the distance in the circle, Tyler McNeley earned her 18th pitching win of the season. The junior righthander scattered six hits and two walks across seven innings. She struck out eight of the 30 Loggers she faced.
 
Puget Sound starter Nyomi Estrada took the loss to fall to 4-13. She gave up 11 hits and three walks, striking out just one batter.
 
Macy Maxwell had two of the Loggers' six hits.
 
GAME 2: Linfield 10, Puget Sound 0, 5 innings
The nightcap went all Linfield's way as the 'Cats outhit the Loggers 11-6 on the way to a run-rule shortened outcome.
 
Aven sent two home run balls out of the yard to raise her Division III leading total to 19, while Sain and Young each added roundtrippers for the Wildcats, who piled up 11 hits on Logger pitchers Alison Madia and Kara Miyoshi.
 
Sain got Linfield on the scoreboard in the first inning with a two-run homer and Aven followed with a solo bomb moments later to make it 3-0. Sain added an RBI double in the second stanza, scoring pinch runner Annika Dayberry. Aven's second at-bat, also in the second inning, produced a two-run homer, sending Sain across the plate for a 6-0 Linfield advantage.
 
The Loggers loaded the bases in the fourth but Maxwell's fly ball to center was caught by Sain and the all-star fielder's throw to the plate was just in time to catch Jazzy Allen coming home for the third out, keeping the Loggers without a run.
 
Young made it 10-0 for the hosts in the fourth, deliverting a grand slam home run over the left-field wall in the fourth inning.
 
Olivia Boures had two hits for Puget Sound.
 
Destiny Cornwell pitched a five-inning shutout to improve her season record to 14-2. She struck out three Loggers while giving up six hits and one walk.
 
AHEAD
The Wildcats and Loggers complete the NWC regular-season schedule with a doubleheader Sunday at Del Smith Stadium at 11 a.m. Senior Day activities honoring Linfield graduating seniors Ashlyn Aven and Cydney Hess start at 10:45. Read Full Article