Linfield won the continuation of a game suspended from Saturday, 8-3, and then took the second contest by a 6-1 score in sweeping a Northwest Conference softball twinbill from host Pacific Lutheran on Monday afternoon at the PLU field.
The Wildcats improved their overall record to 33-6 and their conference mark to 25-3, good for their 10th consecutive Northwest Conference regular season championship. Defending national champion PLU is 25-15 overall and finished the NWC schedule with a 18-10 record, good for second place.
Linfield will host Pacific Lutheran and two team still to be determined in the conference postseason tournament slated for April 20-21 in McMinnville, Ore.
Game One - Linfield 8, PLU 3
The game that was suspended after six innings because of rain and poor field conditions last Saturday was concluded with neither team scoring.
Linfield had increased its 3-1 lead with a five-run sixth inning on Saturday, with Katy Brosig hitting a two-run homer and Megan Wallo adding a two-run double in the uprising.
Grace Middlestadt had three hits to lead Linfield's 11-hit offense against two Pacific Lutheran pitchers. Kaaren Hatlen went the first six innings and took the loss.
The Lutes managed seven hits against Linfield pitcher Karina Paavola, who walked four and struck out seven in going the distance. Lindsey Matsunaga and Katie Lowery both had a pair of hits to lead PLU.
Game Two - Linfield 6, PLU 1
With Leah Butters keeping the Linfield offense at bay, the Lutes took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out bunt base hit by Spencer Sherwin. Hatlen led off with a single and Glenelle Nitta followed with a double into the right field corner. Paavola retired the next two batters on infield pop ups, but the speedy Sherwin legged out a perfect bunt, scoring Hatlen.
The Wildcats finally got to Butters in the fifth inning. They loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, and the first run came in on a PLU fielding error. Wallo then hit a single to drive in the second run, and Karleigh Prestianni's sacrifice fly made it 3-1. Moments later, the score was 6-1 when Lisa Yamamoto hit her 12th home run of the year, a three-run blast over the left field fence.
Butters ended up allowing four earned runs on six hits while walking two and fanning four.
Paavola was done after five innings having allowed four hits and no walked while striking out five. Montana McNealy came in to nail down the win, allowing one hit and striking out three in two innings of work.
Hatlen had two of PLU's five hits.
- PLU -
