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Softball swats down Bruins to stay at number one spot

Posted by :jprokop On : April 8, 2013
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Tyson Takeuchi/Senior photographer Sophomore outfielder Grace Middelstadt slides safely into second in the top of the first inning in game two where the Linfield Wildcats topped George Fox 8-6. The Wildcats swept the two-day doubleheaders.

Tyson Takeuchi/Senior photographer
Sophomore outfielder Grace Middelstadt slides safely into second in the top of the first inning in game two where the Linfield Wildcats topped George Fox 8-6. The Wildcats swept the two-day doubleheaders.

Catball secured its No. 1 conference ranking after sweeping two doubleheaders against George Fox University on April 6 and 7.

On April 7, the Wildcat softball team won game one 12-3 and game two 8-6. The results closely resembled the games from the day prior.

In game one, the Wildcats  started with four runs scored in the first inning. Junior Haylie Watson and sophomore Lisa Yamamoto both scored home runs, giving the Wildcats a 9-1 lead, and the Bruins never caught up.

Junior Ashley Garcia helped drive in four runs and scored two herself for the Wildcats.

Junior Karina Paavola with  the assistance of freshman reliever Maddy Dunn only allowed the Bruins to have four hits and giving Paavola a 16-2 record.

In game two, the Wildcats remained down until the sixth inning, where they upset the Bruins by scoring six runs in the seventh inning.

Sophomore Erin Carson hit her first career homer, bringing in the two game-winning runs for the Wildcats. Yamamoto also hit a three-run home run.

On April 6, Catball won its first game 11-0 and second game 9-8. Junior Karina Paavola added two additional wins to her record this season, making it 26-5 and 18-2.

In game one, the Wildcats had a four-run lead by the end of the first. By the end of the second, Linfield secured a dominant nine-run lead against the Bruins.

After striking out five batters with no runs or walks, Paavola was switched with sophomore reliever Montana McNealy to secure the win for the Wildcats.

Prestianni and Garcia both hit a pair of doubles in the first and second innings. With senior outfielder Megan Wallo and Carson hitting two singles.

In game two, Yamamoto hit a two-run home run, giving the Wildcats a 3-2 lead in the fourth, answering to the Bruins who had a 2-1 lead following the first. The Bruins responded with two runs in the fifth.

During the sixth, Prestianni hit a homer to trigger the Wildcats to score three runs. George Fox’s offense responded with a home run of its own plus additional runs, giving the Bruins an 8-6 lead.

In the seventh, the Wildcats started off with a single by sophomore Grace Middlestadt, followed by another from Wallo. A double from Garcia, drew in two runs. A single from Carson allowed the Wildcats to make their last run, securing the win.

The Wildcats will next face Willamette University at 5:30 p.m. April 10 in the Del Smith Stadium. This will be their last home game for the regular season.

Ivanna Tucker/ Sports Editor

Ivanna Tucker can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com

Wildcats fall in tight match against Loggers

Posted by :jprokop On : March 21, 2013
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The women’s tennis team lost a tight match against the University of Puget Sound Loggers on March 15, losing 5-4.

The Wildcats got off to an early lead after doubles play taking two of the three matches. Sophomore Gretchen Jernstedt and senior Lexi Thomas took the number one doubles matchup, 8-5.

“In doubles, my partner Gretchen and I were able to come together and not give up,” Thomas said. “Some of our games took 10-15 minutes just to complete, but we knew that this was our match to win.”

Junior Caroline Brigham and freshman Kwynn Ecton lost a tightly contested number two doubles matchup, losing after a tiebreaker, 8-9 (1-7).

“For doubles, I wasn’t as aggressive as I have been in past matches,” Ecton said. “If I was more aggressive the outcome would have been different.”

Sophomores Katie Krieger and Kaila Nip took the final doubles match for the Wildcats, winning, 8-5.

The Loggers bounced back from their early deficit, taking four of the six singles matches, edging out the Wildcats in the final match up of the day.

The first three singles matches were all close, each match going to three sets.

Puget Sound’s Maddie Thiesse defeated Thomas in the number one singles match, 6-1, 2-6 and 6-4.

“Individually, I was able to place the ball more into the court, whereas the past few weeks I’ve been consistently hitting the ball three inches off the singles sideline,” Thomas said. “Also, I was able to control my anger more and not get frustrated after every shot I missed.”

Brigham won in the number one singles spot for the ’Cats. After dropping the first set 4-6, the junior bounced back taking the next two 6-1 and 7-5.

The Loggers took three of the other four singles matches, defeating Nip in the number three slot 6-3, 2-6 and 7-5, Ecton in the number four position 6-2, 6-3 and Krieger in the number six matchup 6-4, 6-3.  Jernstedt took the number five singles match with a win over the Logger’s Josephine Dow, 7-5, 4-6 and 7-5.

The loss drops the Wildcats’ record to 4-7, 4-3 in Northwest Conference play, while the Loggers improve to 5-3 overall and hold the same mark in conference.

The Wildcats’ next match is in Newberg, Ore., to play the George Fox Bruins at 3 p.m. March 19.

“We came back from behind in a lot of our singles matches, which was good, but it wasn’t enough to win the match as a whole,” Brigham said. “For our next match against George Fox, we just need to play confidently with a lot of energy to help us take control of the match.”

Chris Haddeland 

Senior reporter

Chris Haddeland can be reached at

linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

 

Wildcats strike out Missionaries

Posted by :jprokop On : March 21, 2013
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Senior All-American Tim Wilson races toward second base after hitting a line drive single up the middle, scoring senior Jordan Harlow. Wilson went four for five on the day with one triple and an RBI. Tyson Takeuchi/Senior photographer

Senior All-American Tim Wilson races toward second base after hitting a line drive single up the middle, scoring senior Jordan Harlow. Wilson went four for five on the day with one triple and an RBI.
Tyson Takeuchi/Senior photographer

The Linfield baseball team swept a three-game series against Whitman College on March 16 and 17, winning 13-1, 3-1 and 7-2.

Juniors Kramer Lindell and Tim Wilson raked at the dish all weekend. Lindell went 7-10 with three walks, six runs scored and one RBI, while Wilson finished 7-11 with two walks, two runs scored, three RBI and two triples. Lindell also added two stolen bases. Both Lindell and Wilson had four hits on Sunday to end their weekends.

After this weekend, Lindell is hitting .459 with an OPS of 1.135. Wilson is not far behind, hitting .403 with an OPS of 1.066.

When asked about his success at the plate, Lindell said, “Our lineup is solid from one to nine and that forces pitchers to go right after you. Staying patient and attacking your pitch has been the formula this year.”

The team effort was evident in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader. Linfield lambasted Whitman’s pitching, highlighted by a seven-run fifth inning where Linfield sent 12 men to the plate. All seven runs in the fifth inning were scored with two outs. Wilson was 3-3, sophomore Corey VanDomelen reached base three times and scored two runs, and junior Jake Wylie smashed three hits—two of them doubles—and knocked in four RBI.

With the game out of hand after six innings—Linfield led 11-0—starting pitcher junior Chris Haddeland (4-1, 0.97 ERA) was pulled after an efficient six innings. He threw 70 pitches, struck out three and allowed just three hits and one walk.

Game two of the doubleheader was a pitcher’s duel between Whitman’s Spencer Hobson and sophomore Aaron Thomassen. Hobson lasted 6 2/3 innings and gave up just one run, despite giving up three hits and six walks.
Thomassen went seven innings, gave up three hits and three walks and just one run. The difference in the game was made by senior third baseman Jordan Harlow. Sophomore Kameron Bates and Wylie on second and third base for Linfield, Harlow drove both men in on a two out two-run single to right field.

“That’s definitely a situation that every athlete waits for…I was really excited. Any time that you are put in a spot to help your team win, it’s a lot of fun,” said Harlow, “it was my turn to pick [my teammates] up. I got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it.”

With the lead in hand, Huckins picked up the victory for Linfield—his first of the season. He fired two innings in relief of Thomassen, giving up one hit and striking out one.

The game on Sunday was tied at two before a four-run sixth inning gave Linfield the lead for good.

The sixth inning outburst was started with a walk by senior Michael Hopp, a bunt single from Wilson and a walk from Wylie.

Lindell scored Hopp with an infield single, and then junior Nick Fisher delivered the key blow: a bases-clearing triple to right center field. The triple was part of a three-hit day for Fisher.

Lindell and Wilson both had four hits on the day to end their weekends.

Sophomore pitcher Joe Stevick picked up his first victory of the season in relief of starting pitcher junior Zach Brandon. Stevick went 2 1/3 innings and struck out one.

With the victories, Linfield improved its record to 15-3, 8-1 NWC.

The team will travel to Spokane next weekend to play the Whitworth Pirates (9-8-1, 4-2 NWC). Whitworth’s record is misleading—it was picked to win the NWC by the coaches.

“We believe we are better than anyone we will play this year. We believe in ourselves and we play very well in these big games,” Lindell said.

Tyler Bradley/Sports Columnist

Tyler Bradley can be reached at

linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Women’s tennis wins fourth match in a row so far this season

Posted by :jprokop On : March 10, 2013
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The Wildcat women’s tennis team won its fourth consecutive match March 2 against the Bearcats from Willamette University, winning seven of the nine matches.

The two losses for the Wildcats came in the two top spots.

Senior Lexi Thomas lost in two sets to Willamette’s Denise Poltavski 6-3, 6-2.

In the number one singles match-up Thomas and sophomore Gretchen Jernstedt were defeated by a score of 4-8.

The rest of the Wildcats would not drop a set, winning the other seven matches.

In doubles play, junior Caroline Brigham and freshman Kwynn Ecton took down the Bearcats number two doubles tandem, 8-4.

Sophomores Kaila Nip and Kelly Watanabe took care of the third Willamette doubles pair with a clean sweep, 8-0.

The Wildcats took five of the six singles matches. Brigham took the number two singles match in the tightest contest of the day 6-0, 7-5.

Nip won the number three singles match 6-2, 6-1. Ecton took the number four spot 6-3, 6-4.

Watanabe and Jerntedt took the number six and seven slots, both winning 6-1, 6-1.

Sophomore Erin Crofcheck has been out on injury.

The win on March 2 leaves the Wildcats with a 4-4 record, 4-2 in league.

The Wildcats travel south to southern California for their next matchups.

The Wildcats will take on La Verne at 3 p.m. on March 9, before meeting up with Sewanee: The University of the South at 10 a.m. on March 10.

 

Kelly Watanabe

Kelly Watanabe

Kaila Nip

Kaila Nip

Chris Haddeland/ Senior reporter

Chris Haddeland can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Wildcats end season with win against the Bearcats

Posted by :jprokop On : March 10, 2013
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Category: Sports, The Rest

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The Wildcats women’s basketball team wrapped up the 2012-13 season with a win over Northwest Conference foe Willamette University on Feb. 19 at the Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

Prior to the game, Linfield senior Nicole Barton was honored as the Wildcats’ lone senior on senior night.

Sophomore guard Alex Christenson looks for a teammate to pass the ball to during the game against WIllamette. The Wildcats won 66-45. Christenson averaged 2.9 points per game and 39 assists. Ivanna Tucker/Sports editor

Sophomore guard Alex Christenson looks for a teammate to pass the ball to during the game against WIllamette. The Wildcats won 66-45. Christenson averaged 2.9 points per game and 39 assists.
Ivanna Tucker/Sports editor

The scoring started low for both teams, with only one basket scored in the first three minutes by Wildcats’ sophomore Katelyn Henson. At the 17-minute mark, the ’Cats started their run, extending their two-point lead to five points with 14 minutes left.

“Jumping out to an early lead is always a good indicator of how the overall game will go,” Henson said. “We set the tempo and were able to keep control of the outcome.”

The trend continued for the remainder of the first half, as the Wildcats left to the locker room with a 14-point lead, 34-20. The ’Cats scoring was helped out largely by the bench, who contributed 11 points. The Wildcats out-shot the Bearcats 47-21 percent.

With a healthy lead, the Wildcats took control of the court in the second half and continued with their success. Aided by a 41 field goal percentage in the half, the ’Cats showed their dominance, taking the game by a final score of 66-45.

Junior Kaely Maltman led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points and shooting six of seven from the field. Henson and Maltman each added seven additional rebounds.

“I felt like collectively, as a team, we were even across the scoreboard,” Henson said. “I also thought that we played great defense and didn’t let them get many second chance shots.”

This was the third win of the season for the Wildcats, who finished with a final record of 3-19.

“Going out on a win was the perfect way to wrap up a season like this,” Henson said. “Although our record doesn’t show it, we have grown immensely over the past few months as a team, and I have no doubt that we will continue to improve as the 2013-14 season rolls in.”

 

Chris Haddeland/ Senior reporter

Chris Haddeand can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Wildcats struggle in first season game

Posted by :jprokop On : March 10, 2013
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The Wildcats fell to the University of Puget Sound in their first home game March 3.

Seniors Brittani Drost and Lynette Cole were honored during a pregame tribute for their commitment to the Linfield

Senior midfielder Lynette Cole runs toward the goal after stealing from the opponent during the Puget Sound game, losing 4-19. Cole scored one of the four goals for the Wildcats. The women’s lacrosse team will next face Pacific at 6 p.m. March 6 at home. Ivanna Tucker/Sports editor

Senior midfielder Lynette Cole runs toward the goal after stealing from the opponent during the Puget Sound game, losing 4-19. Cole scored one of the four goals for the Wildcats. The women’s lacrosse team will next face Pacific at 6 p.m. March 6 at home.
Ivanna Tucker/Sports editor

lacrosse program.

“It’s going to be hard to leave at the end of the season seeing how we consistently improve from practice to practice,” Cole said. “I’m thankful to share this last year with two fantastic coaches and a team full of wonderful, supportive lax bro.”

The Wildcats lost 4-19. The Loggers had almost three times the number of shot attempts than the Wildcats did with a solid 42 to 14.

Senior Grace Reid scored four goals and assisted three teammates against Linfield’s defense.

Nine different players scored for the Loggers compared to four Wildcat scorers.

The Wildcat offense didn’t give up after consecutive Logger shots on goal.

Junior Shelby Duarte, Drost, sophomore Halee Helgerson and senior Nichole Thoens each contributed goals for the offense. Thoens scored her goal in the final 10 minutes signaling a fight left in the Wildcats.

The Wildcat defense was forced to be on its toes against the aggressive Logger offense.

“We played great and made UPS work to win,” sophomore captain Rebecca Kropp said. “None of us see the score board as a big loss but as a huge learning experience. We are such a young program with a new coaching staff and practically a new team this year.”

Linfield (0-1) will take on Pacific University on March 6 at home.

“This game showcased the potential we have to improve and be great in the days, weeks, months and years to come as we continue to learn our strengths and weaknesses as individual players and a team,” Kropp said.

 

Sarah Mason / Staff Writer

Sarah Mason can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Men’s tennis struggles for better record during weekend, but still last in conference

Posted by :jprokop On : March 10, 2013
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The Linfield men’s tennis team continued its rough start to the season, losing 9-0 to Pacific University and 6-3 to Willamette University. This dropped Linfield’s Northwest Conference record to 0-6.

The match against Pacific was particularly brutal. Pacific won the three doubles matches 8-3, 8-2 and 8-1, and it won the six singles matches without dropping a set.

Sophomore Lukas Kleinman returns a ball to Pacific’s Kolin Wong on March 1. Kleinman lost the match against Wong 6-4, 7-5 (12-10). Tyson Takeuchi/Senior photographer

Sophomore Lukas Kleinman returns a ball to Pacific’s Kolin Wong on March 1. Kleinman lost the match against Wong 6-4, 7-5 (12-10).
Tyson Takeuchi/Senior photograp

The closest Linfield player to taking a set was sophomore Lukas Kleinman, who lost his singles match 6-4, 7-5 (12-10).

A good sign for the tennis team stems from the three matches it took on Saturday against Willamette. Kleinman continued his positive weekend with a singles victory, 6-4, 6-2. He also teamed up with Linfield’s No. 1, Zach Lyons, to deliver a 8-6 second flight doubles victory.

Lyons also won his singles match 6-4, 6-2 against Willamette’s No. 2. This was the first time Kleinman and Lyons had paired up this year in doubles.

When asked about his success this weekend, Kleinman said, “I just told myself that I couldn’t keep letting my team down and that I had to step up and try to give the team some positive energy heading into the second half of the season.”

As for the different doubles pairing, Lyons said, “It is a partnership that I want to continue. Luke is a great doubles player and we have a good foundation to build on.”

Lyons reflected on the losses as a way to get better.

“It was a tough weekend, especially Friday, but every loss is a learning experience…it’s a team effort and we will continue to build on what we’ve learned and continue to push ourselves,” he said.

Kleinman echoed similar sentiments when discussing the outlook for the rest of the season.

“If we keep fighting and show a little more intensity, I see us showing a lot more fight the rest of the year,” he said.

Lyons remains the only senior on the roster—the rest of the roster consists of freshmen and sophomores—and they still await a clash with three of the top four teams in the conference.

“I really like our chances of improving. We are all trying to prove ourselves and fight through some adversity,” Kleinman said.

Wins are bound to come from the rest of the team. Sophomores Micah Roos, Joel Trousdale and Ben Brewer all recorded victories last year. Roos and freshman Alex Mangan have already picked up victories this season.

The team will look to pick up its first NWC victory on March 8 in Spokane, Wash., against Whitworth University. Whitworth has a 3-2 NWC record after defeating the University of Puget Sound 9-0 during the weekend.

 

Tyler Bradley/ Sports columnist

Tyler Bradley can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

 

Baseball team has opportunity to finish high in final standings

Posted by :jprokop On : March 10, 2013
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This Linfield baseball team is going to contend for the Northwest Conference title this year. In fact, they look like they can win it.
Picked to finish third in the NWC this year by the coaches, it’s obvious that their ceiling is much higher than third place if you watch the team.
Except you wouldn’t have known this if you judged them by their first game of the season.
When starting a baseball season, winning a game 6-0 is definitely an ideal outcome. If you are on the losing side of the coin, however, the taste in a team’s mouth is sour—not Sour Patch Kids style—and unwelcome.
Unfortunately for the Linfield baseball team, it started the 2013 season on the losing side of the coin down at a tournament in Arizona. La Verne College was the team who scored six runs. Linfield stranded 12 men on base including five men on third.
This was definitely not the way to start the season, especially considering the disappointing end to 2012. Last year’s team was ranked as high as number two in the country, but fell out of the rankings completely later in the season and finished a pedestrian fourth place in the NWC.
Luckily, Linfield righted the ship in a huge way by eviscerating Redlands University, 15-3. The team hasn’t looked back since then and has dominated in every facet of the game.
In the six games following Redlands, the pitching staff has fired three shutouts and given up a total of three earned runs. That’s a team Earned Run Average (ERA) of .5 with a strikeout per nine-inning rate of 7.32 and a walks per nine-inning rate of 1.97. That’s incredible.
The staff is due for some ERA regression—.5 is not sustainable—but a six game stretch of dominance like that with a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.71/1 means the NWC should be afraid: the pitching staff is a force to be reckoned with.
Good pitching goes hand-in-hand with good defense, and during this weekend, the defense only made two errors and both occurred in the same game. A play that was indicative of the stellar defense by the team was a diving snag by senior third baseman Michael Hopp on Feb. 24 against Oregon Institute of Technology.
The hitting has been outstanding. Even by including the La Verne game, the team has a slash line of .338/.404/.463 and the team was hitting .462 with runners in scoring position and less than two outs entering the game against Oregon Tech on Sunday.
“The way last season ended made us all work harder in the offseason…we are definitely using the disappointment as motivation and we want to be the best,” junior Jake Wiley said. “The team is playing really well right now…the chemistry we have together is amazing.”
Wylie himself launched an absolute moonshot over the left field fence in the fourth inning on Sunday, easily traveling more than 400 feet.
If this seven-game stretch is indicative of the potential of this team, they can travel like Wylie’s moonshot. It seems as if La Verne and last season are in the rear view, and the coaches probably made a mistake when putting Linfield in third place.

Tyler Bradley/ Sports columnist

Tyler Bradley can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Wildcats take down the Boxers

Posted by :jprokop On : December 1, 2012
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Ivanna Tucker/Sports editor
Freshman runningback Tavon Willis fights to break past the opposing team during the game against Pacific on Nov. 10. The Wildcats won 51-17. Willis had 36-yards on six rushes.

With playoff seeding on the line at home in their season finale, the Wildcats left nothing to chance, blasting the Pacific University Boxers 51-17.

Another dominating performance on both sides of the ball saw Linfield roll to 500 yards of total offense, while limiting Pacific to just 150 yards and sacking Boxer quarterbacks seven times throughout the contest.

The win completed an undefeated season for the ’Cats at 9-0, their third in the past four seasons.

Senior tailback Stephen Nasca capped an explosive, five-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run to pick up an early 7-0 lead, but things slowed down after that because of old problems: penalties, fumbles, and field goals.

Freshman receiver Sam Robinson coughed the ball up and Boxer quarterback P.J. Minaya promptly evened things at 7-7.

Penalties stalled the ensuing Linfield drive, but the ’Cats were able to get the lead back shortly after on a 42-yard catch-and-run by junior receiver Deidre Wiersma.

Another fumble, this one by Nasca, led to a 39-yard field goal to cut Linfield’s lead to 14-10.

The ’Cats picked up 110 yards of penalties on the day and are averaging over 94 yards per game this season.

Senior kicker Josh Kay was also 0-3 on field goal tries, missing two and having a third blocked, although both tries were from more than 44 yards.

The ’Cats finally broke free midway through the second quarter after a high snap into the end zone led to a Pacific safety.

Senior quarterback Mickey Inns marched the offense down the field before freshman tailback Jonathan Shaffer punched in an eight-yard touchdown run to make the score 23-10. Junior defensive Brynnan Hyland led the defensive charge, picking up one of his two sacks on the Boxers’ ensuing drive.

A pair of touchdown catches by sophomore Charlie Poppen from 10 and nine yards, respectively, ballooned the lead to 37-10 and sent Linfield into the half with momentum behind it.

Inns put the game out of reach with a 71-yard rocket deep downfield to sophomore receiver David Sigler that left the Boxers reeling, down 44-10.

Backup quarterback Warner Shaw added a meaningless score at the end of the third quarter before third-string sophomore quarterback Matt Yarbrough scored his first touchdown of the season on a nine-yard pass to sophomore receiver Colin Nelson to cap scoring at 51-17.

Sunday afternoon the NCAA released the bracket for the 2012 Division-III football playoffs and the ’Cats captured a No. 1 seed for the first time since 2009.

They will face an opponent from earlier in the season, although perhaps not the one most expected. Northwest Conference rival Pacific Lutheran University, which owns the third-strongest schedule in the nation, according to the NCAA, snuck into the playoffs as an at-large selection and will face Linfield on Nov. 17.

Last time the two teams met, PLU raced to a 14-0 lead before the Wildcats outlasted the Lutes 31-24.

Should they continue to win, the Wildcats will own home field advantage until at least the national quarterfinals.

Chris Forrer

For the Review 

Chris Forrer can be reached at

linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.