MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – In a rare tripleheader, the University of Puget Sound softball team fell three times to No. 1 Linfield on Sunday. The two teams played three games in order makeup one game from Friday's rain out.
 
Linfield (25-2, 14-1 NWC) held the Loggers (7-19, 5-11 NWC) to one run on the day with wins of 6-1, 1-0 and 8-0.
 
Game 1
In the first game, the Wildcats rode the hot hitting of Staci Doucette and the stellar pitching of Claire Velaski to a 6-1 win. Doucette finished 3-for-3 in the game with three RBIs.
 
Linfield quickly climbed on top with a run in the first. They added two more in the third and three more over the fourth and fifth to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
 
The Loggers broke through for their only run of the day in the sixth inning when Carolyn Moore was driven in by Aryn Grause after Moore stroked a one-out double. Moore finished 2-for-3 in the game.
 
Game 2
Auriel Sperberg and Lauren Harvey engaged in a classic pitcher's duel in the second game but the Wildcats broke through for the slim 1-0 victory.
 
Sperberg tallied five strikeouts in the game while walking none and scattering four hits over six innings. Harvey was equally as impressive with three Ks and one walk. She allowed just three Logger hits although no Logger advanced past second base.
 
In the third, Katy Brosig provided the game's only run with a lead off homer in the third. Other than the homer, no Wildcats advanced past second base.
 
Game 3
In the third game, the Loggers hit as the home team because the game was originally scheduled as a home game for the Loggers.
 
The Wildcats used five runs in the top of the fifth to break away for the run-rule victory. Emilee Lepp hit a two-run homer in the inning as the first three Wildcats that cam to the plate scored.
 
Jennifer Davis had kept the Loggers in the game until the fifth as she allowed just three runs (one earned). However, a single, double and a homer to lead off the fifth chased Davis from the circle in favor of Sperberg.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, the Loggers threatened to extend the game as Alex Usher singled with one out and gave way to pinch runner Tahni Arndht. Arnhdt advanced to third on a single from Elayna Van Hess but a strikeout would end the inning and the game.

The Loggers will head south again next weekend to face  Lewis & Clark on Saturday and George Fox on Sunday.