McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Continuing their drive toward a possible seventh straight Northwest Conference softball title, the 19th-ranked Linfield College Wildcats swept the George Fox University Bruins 12-0 and 8-0 Wednesday here at the Linfield softball field in a makeup doubleheader of games that were postponed from April 2.

A big 1st-inning explosion sparked the Wildcats to victory in the opening game.  Rochelle Friend led off with a double and scored on a single by Emilee Lepp, who later came in on an error.  Staci Doucette and Karleigh Prestianni, who had reached on walks, scored on a wild pitch and a ground out, and Friend, batting for the second time in the inning, capped the rally with a three-run double.  Five of the seven runs were unearned.

Doucette lined her 10th home run, a solo shot off the scoreboard in right, in the 2nd, and Lepp slugged a three-run homer onto the roof of the new batting cage building in center in the 3rd, her fifth.  Friend drove in the Wildcats' final run in the 4th with a ground out. 

Southpaw starter Claire Velaski (8-2) got the win for the Wildcats with three perfect innings, striking out seven of the nine hitters she faced.  Samantha Van Noy went the last two frames and gave up the Bruins' only two hits, a line single to right by Bethany Chriss with two out in the 4th and ground single up the middle by Taylor Whitmore in the 5th.  Whitmore (2-10) took the loss for the Bruins in the 4 1/2-inning game that was halted by the eight-run 'mercy' rule, striking out one but walking five.

Friend, Lepp, and Emily Keagbine each had two of the Wildcats' 10 hits, with Friend and Lepp driving in four runs apiece.

Lepp did major damage to the Bruins in game two as well, collecting three hits in four at bats with two more home runs, both solos, for seven on the season.  Her one-out drive to left-center in the 1st was all the offense the Wildcats would need, and she added another round-tripper for the first Linfield run in a two-run 4th.

The Wildcats made it 2-0 in the 2nd when Jaydee Baxter singled, stole second, and scored on a Kayla Hubrich double.  They added three unearned runs in the 3rd, Lepp scoring on a throwing error and Alex Hartmann stroking a two-run single.  In the 4th, Doucette followed Lepp with a solo blast of her own, her 11th of the year.  The game ended when Doucette singled in Friend with an unearned run in the last of the 6th to give the Wildcats an eight-run lead.

Lauren Harvey (10-2) went the first 4.0 innings, fanning five with no walks and allowing only a single to left by Erin Lee in the 3rd.  Brittany Woods worked the final two frames, allowing a bad-hop single to Serena Lee in the 6th and striking out one with no walks.  Erin Lee (6-7) suffered the setback for the Bruins as she went 5.1 innings, spacing eight hits and allowing eight runs, only half of them earned.

George Fox (8-17, NWC 2-11) plays a four-game conference series at Willamette University this weekend, starting with a twinbill on Saturday at 12:00 noon.  Linfield (21-5, NWC 13-1) goes to Tacoma, Wash., Friday for a 12:00 noon NWC doubleheader against Pacific Lutheran University.