’Cats make history but fall short of title
During the Wildcat’s run, they set a new single-season home run record of 108, breaking a program and NCAA Division III single-season record of 103 set by Linfield’s 2011 national championship squad. The team’s record-breaking 104th homer of the season came in a 9-1 elimination game victory against fellow West Coast rival University of Redlands where they hit four home runs.
Designated hitter Ashlyn Aven tied the record with a solo shot, while catcher Ashley Sutton smacked the record-breaking 104th home run of the season out of the park on a two-run blast that gave Linfield an 8-0 lead over Redlands in the game.
Against Trine, the Wildcats hit four more long balls and logged 11 hits but it was not enough as the Thunder were able to extend their season in walk-off fashion in the eighth inning after Linfield held three-run leads of 5-2, 7-4 and 9-6.
Linfield ends the campaign at 45-7, matching exactly the win-loss totals of the program’s 2007 national championship club. The 2025 Linfield team captured the Northwest Conference regular-season title, NWC Tournament title, McMinnville Regional and Super Regional crowns and advanced to the Championship Finals for the third straight season, matching the run of sustained success only achieved by Linfield’s 2010-11-12 teams.
Prior to Linfield’s elimination, they began the tournament on Thursday morning with an 11-3 five-inning victory over St. Mary’s College. The ‘Cats opened the contest with a five-run outburst in the first frame and never looked back. They scored three in the third frame and three more in the fourth as they ousted St. Mary’s starter Makayla Steffes before she was able to record an out.
Linfield center fielder Claire Seats led the offensive outburst with a pair of round-trippers, accounting for five RBIs. Aven also homered in the contest as Linfield collected 11 hits. Aven’s homer was a three-run shot in the first stanza that helped the ’Cats gain the early lead. Seats’ first blast came in the second inning, also a three-run bomb. Seats’ second homer came in the fourth with one runner aboard.
Tyler McNeley took the pitching circle for the Wildcats and limited the Cardinals to six hits and three runs over five innings pitched. In her 34th start of the year on Sunday, McNeley also equaled a team record for most games started in a single season, tying Montana McNealy’s 10-year-old record of 34 set in 2015.
The Wildcats extended their winning streak to 13 games with the win, but it was snapped on Friday when they fell 8-4 to Virginia Wesleyan University in the second round of the championship tournament. Linfield mustered just five hits in the contest, the second-lowest hit total from the Wildcats in any playoff game outside of a four-hit 2-0 win over Illinois Wesleyan in the first game of the McMinnville Super Regional on May 22.
A loss put Linfield in position to save their season against Redlands on Saturday, but a win over the Cardinals could not be turned into the momentum needed to make a run to the championship game.
Sunday’s outcome marked the end of the softball careers of graduate student Tyler Warden and eight graduating seniors: Claire Seats, Ashley Sutton, Jacey Leyvas, Tiani Wayton, Brynn Nelson, Kaili Saathoff, Sophia vanderSommen and Sydney Ries. The nine Wildcats combined to carry Linfield to a combined record of 179-25, four Northwest Conference titles, three Regional titles, three Super Regional trophies and two top-three finishes at the NCAA Championship Finals.
Seats and Nelson joined a group of just five Linfield softball players to be in the starting lineup for 200 games over the course of their careers. On Sunday, Seats started her 203rd game in center field while Nelson started at second base for the 201st consecutive game.
Comments