Softball: LINFIELD 12-17, GEORGE FOX 1-0

No. 6 Wildcats Sweep Bruins to Stay Unbeaten in NWC.

Salem-News.com Sports

NEWBERG, Ore. - Piling up 32 hits while allowing only four themselves, the No. 6-ranked Linfield College Wildcats maintained their perfect Northwest Conference record by sweeping the home-standing George Fox University Bruins 12-1 and 17-0 in a pair of five-inning softball games Saturday afternoon here at Morse Field.

In the opener, the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st when Stacie Doucette slugged her sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot down the left-field line. The visitors added five more in the 2nd as Emilee Lepp doubled in one run and Emily Keagbine and Candice Fujino lined two-run doubles. Keagbine singled in another run in the 3rd, and the Wildcats closed out the scoring with three in the 4th, two of them unearned.

George Fox’s only run of the day came in the bottom of the 1st when Chelsea Bradely lofted her fifth home run of the season to left. The Bruins’ only other hit was a single up the middle by Katie Hughes in the 2nd.

Lepp finished with three hits in the Wildcats’ 13-hit attack, scoring two and driving in two. Keagbine and Fujino had two hits apiece.

Kendra Strahm worked the first two innings for Linfield, striking out three, before Elise Karscig (1-0) took over and pitched three perfect innings in her first mound appearance of the season. She fanned one. Bradely (4-17) took the loss for the Bruins, striking out four and walking three in the route-going job.

In the nightcap, Natalie Taylor led a 19-hit attack with a 3-for-4 game, tripling and homering and driving in seven runs while scoring three. She had an RBI single and scored a run on Jaydee Baxter’s single to cap a seven-run outburst by the Wildcats in the 1st, lined a bases-loaded triple to right-center and scored on a hit by Kayla Hubrich in a four-run 2nd, and slugged her third home run of the year, a three-run shot to left, to close out a six-run 3rd.

Hubrich, Keagbine, and Jordan Mixsell also collected three hits apiece, Mixsell scoring three times. Fujino was 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, three runs scored, and three RBIs.

Brittany Miller started and threw two perfect innings for the Wildcats, striking out four, before Samantha Van Noy (3-0) went the final three to pick up the win. She fanned five, walked two, and allowed only singles to Missi Bourgo and Amy Peterson during her stint. Erin Lee (0-2) went the first two innings for the Bruins and took the loss, surrendering 13 hits and 11 runs with one strikeout and three walks. Shelby Briske finished the last three innings, allowing six hits and six runs with five walks, but threw shutout innings in the 4th and 5th.

George Fox (4-19, NWC 3-11) now takes on another nationally-ranked team, No. 10-ranked Willamette University, Sunday in Salem, Ore., with a twinbill at 12:00 noon. Linfield (23-2, NWC 13-0) visits Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., Sunday, also a doubleheader at 12:00 noon.

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