Extra-inning Affair

May 10, 2009

MARSHALL, Texas - Whitney Wyly’s three-run home run in the eighth inning snapped a 2-all standoff and propelled the Texas-Tyler Patriots to a 5-4 victory Sunday over the No. 1-ranked Linfield Wildcats in the championship game of the NCAA Division III West Regional on the campus of the East Texas Baptist University.

Surviving a stacked West Regional that included five Top-25 programs, the fourth-ranked Patriots (38-8) won each of their four regional tournament games by one-run margins, including two extra-inning nail-biters against Linfield. The win sends the Patriots to their first NCAA Finals, which starts Thursday in Montclair, N.J.

The Wildcats, champions of the Northwest Conference, ended their season at 39-6.

Linfield took a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run double by Alex Hartmann (Soph., Medina, Wash.), her school-record 21st two-bagger of the season. The Patriots countered with Kate Bell’s two-run homer, her 13th of the year, over the left-field wall in the top of the second.

The game featured a showdown of all-star pitchers Brittany Miller (Sr., Port Orchard, Wash.) from Linfield and Stacy Shepherd of UTT. Miller struck out nine Patriots and held the American Southwest Conference champions to five hits. However, two of the hits Miller gave up went for home runs. Shepherd yielded eight hits but maintained her poise with runners on base, weathering the Wildcats’ best opportunities to win the game in the late innings.

In the bottom of the seventh, Linfield had loaded the bases with no outs and had a chance to put the game away. But Jaydee Baxter (Fr., Damascus, Ore.) grounded into a double play and a long fly ball to the center field off the bat of Emilee Lepp (Fr., Colville, Wash.) fell 10 feet short of clearing the outfield wall.

Wyly delivered the game’s biggest hit in extra innings, a three-run blast that gave UTT a 5-2 advantage. In the bottom of the frame, the feisty Wildcats responded with a single from Emily Keagbine (Soph., Portland, Ore.) and setting the table for a two-run homer by Natalie Taylor (Soph., Tualatin, Ore.) to draw the ‘Cats within one run, 5-4. Taylor’s homer, her fourth of the season, gave the Wildcats one final chance to pull the game out. But moments later, Kayla Hubrich (Soph., Hillsboro, Ore.) grounded out to Allison Hurt to end the game.

“The kids’ effort and determination was great,” said Wildcats coach Jackson Vaughan. “It’s unfortunate someone had to lose a game like that. Against Tyler, we’ve had a heck of a time getting the key hit we need to get over the hump.”

Linfield had been gunning for its third trip to the NCAA Finals in four seasons, but went down to defeat with guns blazing.

“It’s been a fun year,” reflected Vaughan. “We had to replace our entire starting infield and our top 5-6 best statistical hitters from last year. To come back and have as good a team as we had, be ranked No. 1 in the nation and contend for a national championship, that’s pretty impressive. The team really did a great job of coming together as a team and continuing to improve throughout the year.”

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Three Wildcats, Rochelle Friend (Jr., Hood River, Ore.), Alex Hartmann (Soph., Medina, Wash.) and Staci Doucette (Fr., Vancouver, Wash.), were named to the all-tournament team. Friend hit .500 in the tournament, Hartmann batted .357 and drove in three runs, while Doucette had a triple and a home run in five tournament games.

‘CAT SCRATCH: Linfield expects to return to Oregon Monday afternoon, landing at the Portland airport around 3:30 p.m. . . . the Wildcats have met UT-Tyler three times in the playoffs, losing all three contests in extra innings. . . Miller, the Wildcats senior All-American, pitched 28 innings on a battered arm. . . she struck out 26 of the 100 batters she faced. . . .Linfield hit .227 at the West Regional.

Linfield Wildcats
NCAA Finals were with their grasp