Baseball

Linfield baseball traveled south to play Willamette University in a double header at John Lewis Field, losing both games 2-5 and 2-3, respectively. 

In game one of the double header, junior Colton Meyer started on the mound for the Wildcats. Meyer threw five innings, striking out three batters, giving up four hits and surrendering one run to the Bearcats.

Freshman Jarrett Allen came out of the bullpen to throw three innings in relief for Meyer. Allen had two strikeouts, gave up one hit, walked one batter, and allowed one run.

Freshman Mike LaVigne stayed hot at the plate, going 2-4 and knocking in a run with a double in the third inning. Last week, LaVigne was named as the d3baseball.com second baseman of the week.

Knocking in the other run was senior Tanner Jacques, who also finished with two hits.

Linfield garnered eight hits and a costly four errors, compared to Willamette’s five hits and zero errors.

Despite racking up three more hits than Willamette, the ‘Cats came up short, losing 2-5. 

In game two, Willamette quickly jumped to a 0-2 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The ‘Cats answered right back with two of their own in the top of the second, including a solo home run by fifth year senior right fielder, Levi Horner-Villa.

Following another run in the bottom of the third for Willamette, the last four innings were scoreless and the Bearcats secured a 2-3 victory.

Both teams had five hits. Linfield racked up three errors and Willamette made five of their own.

Freshman Gage Mack threw a complete game for the Wildcats with five strikeouts, zero walks and five hits. 

Next, the Wildcats will be taking the diamond for another double header Sunday at Willamette University, starting at 11 a.m.

Softball

Linfield softball played host to Pacific Luthern in a double header at Del Smith Stadium. In two come-from-behind victories, the Wildcats swept the visiting Lutes 6-5 and 4-2.

Senior Maddy Podnar started in the circle for the ‘Cats and went six innings. Podnar had four strikeouts, four walks, gave up nine hits and allowed five runs before being replaced by sophomore Jordan Bennett. Bennett was credited with her first win of the season after entering the game in the seventh inning.

After the Lutes took a 3-5 lead in the top of the sixth inning, the Wildcats put two of their own to tie the ball game with a single by sophomore third baseman Kamryn Mobley that brought in two runs.

After Bennett sat down three consecutive Lute batters in the top of the seventh, junior Abi Proffitt hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring fifth year senior catcher Kamryn Apling and winning the game in a walk-off. 

Game two had a similar feel as Pacific Lutheran jumped to a 0-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning off two solo home runs.

In the fifth, the Wildcats struck back with a single to centerfield by junior left fielder Katie Phillips, scoring sophomore pinch runner Chloe McDaniel. The tying run came from a single to left field by junior shortstop Katrina Johns, scoring another run. 

Following an errant throw back to the pitcher, the Wildcats scored two runs to take the lead 4-2.

Sophomore Tayah Kelley pitched a complete game. Kelley struck out eight Lute batters, while only walking one and allowing four hits.

Next, the ‘Cats will host Whitworth University in a double header at Del Smith Stadium on Saturday starting at noon.

Track and Field

The 2021 track and field season commenced Saturday morning as Linfield hosted the Erik Anderson Memorial Invitational against George Fox at Maxwell Field.

The Bruins came out victorious in both dual meets, winning the men’s competition 98-60 and the women’s 103-55.

Individually for the men, freshman Calvin Cahill won the 1,500 meter race with a time of 4:29.76. 

Senior Keaton Wood took the 110 hurdles at 16.17 and also finished second in the long jump with a jump of 21-10.75.

Freshman Jacob Slifka, also a football player, won the discus event with a throw of 139-3.

Junior Matt Metcalf won by more than 10 feet, beating George Fox’s Jack Ellis in the javelin with a throw of 174-8.

Sophomore Connor McNabb, a football player like Slifka, won the 100m with a time of 11.50.

On the women’s side, senior Meg Angier won the pole vault by almost a foot with a height of 11 feet, 5 inches. 

The next meet for the track and field team will be next Saturday as they host Pacific in a dual meet at Maxwell Field.

Women’s tennis 

Women’s tennis beat Whitworth University 8-1 in their first Northwest Conference win of the season Saturday morning in Spokane, Wash. It was a dominant outing for the Wildcats, winning all but one singles match that was lost by a difference of one point. 

Linfield doubles duo and cousins Haley and Taryn Fujimori brought in the first win of the day, beating Whitworth senior Hannah Plank and junior Kyndal Locati 8-4. Wildcats took the remaining doubles matches as well, 8-3 and 8-6. 

In the first singles match to finish, junior Wildcat Tessa Kern bested senior Avery Leining 6-3, 6-4. Taryn Fujimori battled with Pirates’ sophomore Aleah Kurt, dropping the first set 6-2, winning the second 6-1 and losing the final one 7-6. The Wildcat’s won the remaining four singles match. 

Linfield will face Whitworth again on Sunday morning in an exhibition match at 10 a.m. 

Swimming 

Men’s and women’s swimming swept Lewis and Clark University in their NWC season opener in Portland, Ore. Saturday morning. The women secured a 103-83 victory in the morning and the men outscored the Pioneers 122-60 in the afternoon.

On the women’s side, Linfield teams placed first and second in the 200 yard medley relay to start of the meet. Junior Molly Shields was the next Wildcat to take first in the 100 yard butterfly. 

Sophomore Kate Walkup placed first in the the 100 yard backstroke and freshman Whitney Averill followed with another win in the 100 yard breaststroke. 

The Linfield men placed first in almost every event, with the exception of the 200 yard freestyle. 

Senior Daisuke Fitial placed first in all of his events, including the 200 yard medley relay, the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 yard backstroke. 

The Wildcats will meet the Willamette Bearcats next weekend at home for their second meet of the season. 

Lacrosse

Lacrosse dropped their home opener to George Fox University 17-7 early Saturday afternoon. Junior midfielder Bethany Shade led the Wildcats with three goals. 

Shade scored the first goal of the game 11 seconds after the face-off. GFU answered with a goal two minutes later and quickly added another, making the score 2-1. 

Junior midfielder Maia Rezoski tied the game with her first goal of the season and less than a minute later, Shade added another to give the Wildcats their final lead of the game. 

Ten consecutive Bruin goals followed and the first period ended without another goal from the Wildcats. 

Wildcat senior goalie Epi Roldan-Rayo recorded 12 saves on the day, but it wasn’t enough to fend off the Bruins. Junior midfielder Andrea Garcia-Milla led GFU’s offense with five goals and sophomore midfielder Kyra Barnes had four, including the final goal of the game to bring the final score to 17-7. 

The ‘Cats will face GFU once again Sunday morning at 11 a.m. 

Men’s tennis 

Men’s tennis narrowly fell to Whitworth 5-4 in their NWC opener in McMinnville. 

Linfield took all three doubles matches, led by juniors Josef Shum and Gilbert Fuentes Gilbert finishing first with a score of 8-0. 

Whitworth came back to win five out of six doubles matches. In the first singles match to finish, senior Cameron Ventura fell to Whitworth senior Kincaid Morris 6-2, 6-1. 

Senior Michael Manion got the only singles win of the day for the ‘Cats, beating junior Cameron Brewer 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. 

The Wildcats will face the Pirates once more on Sunday morning in an exhibition match in McMinnville.