NWC Softball: Home Runs Rain on Bruins

Both contests were shortened to five innings by the eight-run rule.

Erica Hancock hit a record-tying eighth homer. Photo: Linfield Athletics

McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Third-ranked Linfield battered George Fox pitchers for three home runs and 25 hits during a rapid doubleheader sweep Sunday at the Linfield diamond.

The Wildcats pushed their current winning streak to 12 games, winning 9-1 and 12-0.

Both contests were shortened to five innings by the eight-run rule. The entire doubleheader was played in less than three hours.

Linfield boosted its record to 28-4 and 18-1 in the Northwest Conference. George Fox saw its season record dip to 5-25 and 3-19 in league play.

GAME 1

Wildcats sluggers Amanda Attleberger and Jena Loop each went 3 for 3 and combined for six runs batted in as the hosts rolled to the lopsided victory in the opener.

Attleberger hit her fifth home run of the season and school-record 18th of her career while adding a pair of doubles.

Loop scored three times and drove in two runs as the ‘Cats hammered 13 hits on Bruin pitchers Kayla Winkler and Nikki Morrison.

Winkler homered in the third for George Fox’s lone run.

Wildcats righthander Samantha Van Noy hamstrung the Bruins for two hits, earning the win to improve to 9-2.

Linfield scored three runs in the first inning, then poured on five more in the second, including Attleberger’s two-run homer.

GAME 2

Erica Hancock equaled a Linfield single-season record with her eighth home run of the year and Kendra Strahm pitched a seven-hitter to lead the Wildcats in the nightcap.

A sacrifice by Meredith Brunette and Attleberger’s RBI single netted Linfield two runs in the first inning. Then came a five-run onslaught in the second, aided by two Bruins errors and base hits by Brunette and Jessica Popiel.

Hancock’s roundtripper over the left-field fence in the third made it 8-0, then Loop blasted her sixth home run of the season to left-center field, adding two more runs to the board. Hancock and Rochelle Friend took turns slapping RBI singles and the Wildcats led 12-0 after four innings.

The Bruins avoided the shutout with three runs in the fifth. Winkler’s RBI single plated Erin Lee then Torey Weatherman added a bloop RBI single to left field. Ashley Olson rounded out the scoring with an RBI single.

Strahm (2-0) struck out two and walked one to earn the five-inning victory. Brunette drove in three runs.

Stephanie Rice scored three times and added two RBIs, and Hancock went 2 for 3.

Weatherman (1-7) took the loss for the Bruins. Winkler went 2 for 3 in the game and Lee was 2 for 2.

AHEAD: Red-hot Pacific comes to McMinnville for twinbills both Saturday and Sunday. Games begin at noon each day.

Sunday’s doubleheader was originally scheduled to be played at Hillsboro Stadium, the Boxers’ temporary home field, but unplayable field conditions there dictated a change of venue.

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