'Unsung heroes' shine for 'Cats

May 07, 2009

MARSHALL,
Texas - Freshman Staci Doucette (Fr., Vancouver, Wash.) hit her 12th home run of the season and Brittany Miller (Sr., Port Orchard, Wash.) collected her 70th career pitching victory to lead the Linfield Wildcats
to an 8-5 victory over the Redlands Bulldogs in the opening round of the NCAA Division
III West Regional at East Texas Baptist University.



The top-ranked and top-seeded Wildcats advance to a winners' bracket game
Friday at 4 p.m. Central Time against fourth-ranked and fifth-seeded Texas Tyler
(35-8). Redlands, which had entered the regional on an eight-game winning streak, lost for the second time Thursday and was ousted from the double-elimination tournament. The Bulldogs ended their season at 30-12.


Doucette clubbed a three-run homer over the left-field wall in the first inning,
staking Linfield to a lead it would never relinquish. Candice Fujino (Jr., Kealakekua, Hawaii) doubled to
drive home two more runs in the third inning as Linfield opened up a 5-0 lead.



Redlands cut the margin to 5-4 with a four-run barrage in the fifth as Nikki Neuman
doubled to push home a pair of runs and Kayla Peterson slammed a two-run single
up the middle.



Linfield
created some breathing room in the bottom of the inning with a run-scoring single
by Alex Hartmann (Soph., Medina, Wash.). The Wildcats made it a four-run game in the sixth after Fujino
was grazed by a pitch and Natalie Taylor (Soph., Tualatin, Ore.) doubled to right-center field to put
two runners aboard. Fujino then scored on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by
Jaydee Baxter (Fr., Damascus, Ore.) and Friend doubled deep to the wall to plate Taylor.



The Bulldogs made things interesting in the seventh, putting runners at first
and third with one out. Kayla Peterson’s ground out scored pinch runner
Kirstie Bender, pulling the Bulldogs to within three runs.


Friend went 3 for 4 and scored two runs and Hartmann was 2 for 3 with an RBI to
carry the Wildcats at the plate.


With her 12th roundtripper, Doucette moved to within two home runs of the Linfield single-season record of 14 set
by Erica Hancock in 2007.


“I like the fact that we were challenged by Redlands late in the game. That
forced our kids to have to produce under pressure,” said Wildcats coach
Jackson Vaughan. “It was nice to see some of our unsung players, like Candice
Fujino and Rochelle Friend, come in and get some big hits.”


Miller,
a senior making her 90th appearance in a Linfield uniform, logged her 70th career
win. She allowed seven hits and two walks, but struck out five Bulldogs to improve
to 14-2 with the complete-game victory.



“Brittany stayed in control for the first four innings before she started
to tire,” said Vaughan. “But she battled through and did a good job.
Redlands deserves credit for fighting hard to the end.”


Neumann, the Bulldogs’ leadoff hitter, had three hits in the game. Peterson
drove in three runs.


‘CAT SCRATCH: Linfield has now won seven straight games over Redlands…the
Wildcats also ended the Bulldogs’ season in the 2007 playoffs. . . in other
games Thursday, Texas-Tyler defeated Redlands 2-1, East Texas Baptist clubbed
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9-0 in five innings, and Louisiana College downed La Verne
4-3 in eight innings. . . . Friday’s pairings have ETBU playing Louisiana
College at 2 p.m. . . . Claremont meets the La Verne in an elimination game at
noon . . .UT-Tyler faces Linfield at 4 o’clock.

Rochelle Friend
Comes through when it counts