McMinnville, Ore. - (From Linfield Sports Information Office) The hot-hitting bats of the Linfield Wildcats continued their assault of the Whitworth Pirates Saturday at the Linfield diamond as the hosts swept a Northwest Conference doubleheader 10-2 and 7-1. The first game was shortened to six innings by the eight-run rule.

Linfield, the defending NWC champion, remained unbeaten in 2009, running its record to 6-0, both overall and in conference play. Whitworth dropped to 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the NWC.

GAME 1 - box score and play by play
Emily Keagbine, Staci Doucette and Emilee Lepp each had three hits to power a 16-hit Linfield onslaught. Keagbine doubled and hit her fourth home run of the season, Doucette drove in two runs and scored another, and Lepp scored three times as the Wildcats jumped to a 8-0 lead after three innings.

Kendra Strahm and Claire Velaski combined for seven strikesouts and limited the Pirates to six hits. Strahm (3-0) pitched the first four innings, allowing no earned runs while striking out five. Velaski came on in relief, fanning two batters while giving up three hits and one earned run.

Pirates starter Jessica Mangis took the loss to fall to 2-3. She pitched 5 1/3 innings, surrendering 10 earned runs without a strikeout.

Whitworth Ashley Carey went 2 for 3 at the plate.

GAME 2 - box score and play by play
Alex Hartmann blasted a grand slam home run in the third inning, part of an eight-hit effort by the Linfield batters in the nightcap. Rochelle Friend notched a run-scoring double and Lepp hit her second homer of the season to ignite a three-run first inning. Like the opener, Linfield never trailed.

Brittany Miller struck out six Pirates without yielding a hit over four innings to earn the win. Samantha Van Noy came on in relief.

Caitlin Doherty, Kelsey Ayers and Sara Rylaarsdam picked up hits for the Pirates. Ayers went the distance in the circle, striking out four batters while giving up eights and one walk.

AHEAD: Whitworth is scheduled to host Pacific Lutheran next weekend in the Pirates' home-opening series. The status of that series (location and dates) will be determined as the weekend approaches.

.