TACOMA, Wash. — The Northwest Conference Regular Season Champion Pacific Lutheran University softball team was unable to capture the NWC Tournament title on Sunday, falling 6-1 to second-seed Linfield University in a battle of the nationally ranked rivals at PLU Field.
The seventh-ranked Wildcats (37-6) opened the scoring in the second inning with a Lexiss Antle double scoring a pair of runs.
A
Bri Sarae two-out single scored
Paola Garcia in the third inning, whittling the gap to just one run. Garcia reached base on a double, her 10th of the season for the single season hits leader.
Linfield manufactured two more runs in the fifth inning on consecutive doubles before padding the lead in the sixth with a two-run home run from Meara Sain who finished the day with three of Linfield's six RBIs.
Sarae led the 21st-ranked Lutes (34-10) at the plate, going two-for-three with an RBI in a game PLU mustered just four hits.
Paige Wilson struck out six in the complete game effort, finishing the three-day tournament having tossed 24 1/3 of the Lutes' 28 innings played and registering 29 total strikeouts. Her 311 career strikeouts sit one shy of Holly Alonzo (1987-1989) for sixth place on the all-time list, moving past both Marissa Miller (302 strikeouts from 2015-2018) and Stacey Hagensen (304 strikeouts from 2009-2012) over the weekend.
"I'm proud of the grit Paige showed in the circle all tournament.
Bri Sarae and
Kamalani Doctor continue to be tough outs for us at the plate but unfortunately we couldn't put it all together today," said Head Coach
Traci Barrett.
"We're looking to build off of this weekend and hopeful for what's next. Overall, we're so proud of this team that has put Luteball back on the map!"
Sunday was the sixth meeting of the season between the two NWC juggernauts. The Lutes took three of four during the regular season back on April 18 & 19 while the Wildcats evened the series with Friday's 4-2 victory and today's win.
The victory gave Linfield the NWC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament while the Lutes will await their fate as an at-large selection. The NCAA selection committee will unveil the 2026 bracket on Monday, May 11 at 8 a.m. (Pacific).
