Wildcat Round-up: McNeley pitches perfect game

Sophomore Linfield softball pitcher Tyler McNeley registered the first 7-inning perfect game in 16 years and second no-hitter to push the Wildcats to a four-game Northwest Conference sweep of the Pacific Boxers Sunday afternoon at Sherman/Larkins Stadium.

On Sunday, McNeley faced the minimum 21 batters, allowing no hits, no walks and no base runners as the Wildcats won the opening game of a doubleheader 5-0. This weekend in two pitching appearances, McNeley registered two complete-game shutouts, allowing just five hits and one walk over 12 innings with 16 strikeouts.

The Wildcats advanced to a 14-0 conference record and are 24-2 overall.

Last weekend the No. 4 ranked Wildcat softball team capped a four-game Northwest Conference sweep of Puget Sound, advancing to a 20-2, 10-0 record.

Linfield softball will host conference opponent Lewis and Clark in a four-game series on Friday and Saturday.

Lacross goalkeeper Tenley Hodge set a new career-high with 18 saves on Sunday as the Linfield Wildcats came up short in a 15-13 Northwest Conference loss to the visiting Whitworth Pirates.

Wildcat lacrosse moves to a 7-5, 3-2 record.

On April 5, leading scorer Gabby Crist, junior midfielder, notched a new career scoring milestone scoring 10 goals against Pacific Lutheran. She tied second in Linfield lacrosse history for having the most goals per match. On April 6, she repeated history, scoring 10 goals against Puget Sound.

Crist leads the Wildcats for the season with 48 goals and 18 assists. The Lake Oswego native, touts a .552 shooting percentage and is .828% for shots on goal.

In the March 15 match against Pacific Lutheran, Crist had earned her previous career high of nine goals scored in one match.

Linfield baseball blasted six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and rode a pair of home runs from Luke Porter to a 12-5 win over Whitworth on Sunday afternoon at Roy Helser Field.

Porter crushed two homers and drove in six runs, capping off his dominant day with a grand slam in the eighth that helped the Wildcats blow the game open after Whitworth rallied to close the gap.

The Arizona native’s first blast came in the seventh, a two-run shot to left-center that put the Wildcats up 6-1.

The victory snapped Linfield’s two-game skid and salvaged the final game of the Northwest Conference series, improving the Wildcats to 16-13 overall and 7-8 in conference play.

The Wildcats travel to Salem on Wednesday to face Willamette in non-conference play.

Linfield tennis men’s ended its season on Sunday with the Wildcats’ second 7-0 win of the season against the Willamette Bearcats.

Although the Wildcats were successful across the board the match was highlighted by Rogue Stone and Matous Young winning the final singles matches of their careers as well as Young and Cody Pickar winning their final doubles contests.

Linfield ended the year on the upswing, finishing 2-2 over the final four matches after winning just twice in the first 13 to end the season with a 4-15 record, including a 4-10 mark against Northwest Conference opponents.

DOUBLES — Linfield leaped to an early lead with a swift clinch of the dual match doubles point.

The Wildcats posted two 6-3 wins with Cameron Paulsen and Matous Young beating Luca Livengood and Luca Casano at No. 2. Fellow ‘Cats Alexander Rosenquist and Cody Pickar topping AJ Avansino and Andre Leif at No. 3.

It was the seventh win of the season for Paulsen and Young, with the duo posting a 3-2 record when playing as Linfield’s No. 2 team. It was the first win for Rosenquist and Pickar as a duo, and the first for Pickar of his senior season. Young ends his senior campaign with eight doubles wins.

Willamette avoided the doubles sweep with a tiebreak win over No. 1 thanks to Zack Olander and Hudson Snyder outlasting Stone and partner Brooks Lerfald 7-6 (7-2).

The loss came as a surprise for the Wildcats with Lerfald and Stone having won their last five matches together entering Sunday. They end the year with an 8-7 record as Linfield’s No. 1 tandem and Stone finishes his career with an impressive 27 doubles wins, the 14th most in Linfield men’s tennis history.

SINGLES — Despite the unexpected loss at the top of the scorecard to end singles action Linfield came out hot to start singles and quickly add to the 1-0 lead. The Wildcats did not drop a set throughout the singles lineup.

Lerfald found himself in an early battle with Avansino in the top singles flight but managed to pull away in the second set to win handily 7-5, 6-1 for his fifth win of the year as Linfield’s No. 1.

At No. 2 Stone dominated his final match for a 6-1, 6-1 win for the fifth win of his senior year and finishing his career with 15 wins.

Paulsen continued his strong play at the No. 3 spot, beating Olander 6-1, 6-3 for his third win in the final five matches of the year. At No. 4 Rosenquist beat Leif 6-3, 6-2 to finish the year with six wins.

For Linfield Women’s Tennis, Emma Tuttle won the final singles match of her career at Willamette on Sunday but Linfield lost to the Bearcats 5-2 in the last match of the season.

The senior from Ridgefield, Wash. finished her career with a 27-18 record in singles play, a win percentage of .600.

Linfield, unable to field a full lineup for much of the year due to injury and illness, had six active players and was able to field a lineup for the first time with March 9 in their first meeting with the Bearcats.

Linfield’s season ended with a record of 1-14. Willamette finished the year at 3-11.

Article written with assistance of Linfield Sports Communication.