NWC Softball: 'Cats Claw Bruins, 11-2 and 12-1

The two Yamhill County foes square off in a doubleheader again Sunday.

Kendra Strahm picks up win in first start. Photo: Linfield Athletics

NEWBERG - Keeping alive their hopes of repeating as the Northwest Conference champions, the nationally-ranked Linfield Wildcats swept a doubleheader from the George Fox Bruins, 11-2 and 12-1, Saturday afternoon at Morse Field and kept the pressure on the league-leading Whitworth College Pirates.

George Fox dropped to 5-23 overall and 3-17 in the NWC, while Linfield improved to 26-4 overall and 17-1 in the league.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 3 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, were a game behind ninth-ranked Whitworth, which was 16-0 in the NWC, entering the day.

GAME 1

A strong pitching performance by Brittany Miller and an offensive attack that produced 15 hits and benefited from six George Fox errors enabled the Wildcats to take the opener.

Linfield got on the board in the top of the second when Michelle Silbernagel singled in two runners who had both reached on dropped fly balls.

The Bruins tied it in the home half as Ashley Olson and Torey Weatherman scored when Miller threw away Amber Philliber’s grounder to the right side of the mound with two out and the bases loaded.

The Wildcats broke the tie in the fourth as Erica Hancock was hit by a pitch, and after Rochelle Friend sacrificed, Silbernagel, Jessica Popiel, and Stephanie Rice hit consecutive singles, the last one driving in two runs.

Two more unearned runs came across in the fifth on two more dropped flies in the outfield. Jena Loop lined her fifth home run of the season off the scoreboard in left in the sixth, and the Wildcats sewed it up with four unearned runs in the seventh.

Miller (10-2) went 5 1/3 innings before leaving with an apparent leg injury, allowing only three hits and striking out five with one walk. Both runs she allowed were unearned.

Samantha Van Noy completed the game and picked up her first save, coming in with a 7-2 lead and the bases loaded in the sixth and escaping unscathed.

Kayla Winkler (3-13) went the distance for the Bruins, striking out three and walking three while allowing only three earned runs.

Hancock and Rice had three hits each for the Wildcats, Hancock with a triple and three runs scored. Jenny Marshall, Silbernagel, and Popiel had two hits apiece. Olson collected two of the Bruins’ three hits.

GAME 2

The Wildcats used three multi-run innings to take the five-inning nightcap by the college eight-run rule. Rice opened the game with a bunt single and went to third on a wild throw to first, then scored on Marshall’s sacrifice bunt, and Brunette singled, stole second, and later scored on a wild pitch as the Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the first.

Linfield added four more in the 2nd as Popiel singled in a run, Rice bunted in another, Marshall drove in a run with a ground out, and Brunette capped the rally with an RBI single.

The Wildcats put the game away in the top of the fifth with six runs, collecting five hits and taking advantage of two more Bruin errors and a passed ball in the inning.

Friend had an RBI double and Loop capped the outburst with a two-run single.

Kendra Strahm (1-0), making her first start of the season, went the distance for the Wildcats, allowing only two hits and one unearned run while striking out six and walking none.

The Bruins got their only run off her in the third when Amber Philliber singled to right, advanced on two tappers back to the mound, and scored when Kayla Winkler reached on an infield error. Kerstyn Tsuruda singled leading off the 4th for the other George Fox hit.

Weatherman (1-6) took the loss for the Bruins, surrendering 12 hits in five innings and eight earned runs. Rice, Brunette, Hancock, Friend, and Popiel had two hits each.

NEXT: The two Yamhill County foes square off in a doubleheader again Sunday, starting at noon, this time in McMinnville.

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