EAU CLAIRE, Wisc.  –  Katie Phillips was 3-for-4 with three RBI and the No. 8 Linfield College Wildcats banged out 14 hits to defeat the University of Southern Maine Huskies 10-2 (5 innings) in game three of the Eau Claire Regional Friday afternoon at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Bollinger Fields.
           Linfield advances to the winners bracket of the regional and will face Alfred University on Saturday (1:00 pm).  Ranked 11th in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) Division III top 25 poll, Linfield improves to 37-7 with the win. In the Also Receiving Votes category of the NFCA poll, Southern Maine dips to 31-5-1 and will face Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday (11 am).  Oshkosh, the top seed in the regional championship, defeated Illinois College 4-2 in the opener.  Oshkosh is 25-11.  
           Southern Maine took an early lead scoring a run in the top of the first as senior Erin Martin (Biddeford, Maine) led off the game with a single up the middle.  Junior Kaitlyn Nelson (Guildhall, Vermont/White Mountains Regional) and senior Ashley Tinsman (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) followed with a walk and a single respectively before sophomore Lauren Leidemann-Smith (Berwick, Maine/Marshwood) drove in Martin with a sacrifice fly to right before the side was retired. 
           Linfield came right back in the home half of the first with three runs and added two more in the bottom of the second for a solid 5-1 advantage over the Huskies.  Katie Phillips and Baily Paul each had RBI singles in the first, while Kelsey Wilkinson and Kamryn Apling drove in runs with a triple and a single respectively in the second. 
           USM cut its deficit to three runs in the third as Tinsman launched her school-record eighth home run of the season over the left-center fence for a 5-2 Linfield lead.  However, the Wildcats returned its lead to four with a run in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single through the left side from Katrina Johns, making it 6-2.
           Following a scoreless fourth-inning, Linfield pushed across four runs in the bottom of the fifth invoking the eight run rule and earning the win.  Phillips had a two-run single in the inning to end the game.  Tayah Kelley (18-4) earned the win in the circle for Linfield. She went 4.0 innings allowing two earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks.  Maddy Podnar closed the game pitching the fifth for the Wildcats, allowing one hit and one walk.  USM graduate student Kirsten Pelletier (West Gardiner, Maine/Messalonskee) took the loss allowing five earned runs on six hits and a walk in 1.1 innings.  Freshman Lauren Merrill (Bethel, Maine/Oxford Hills) pitched well in relief allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits and a walk. She had three strikeouts.