Forty miles is all that separates the Linfield College campus in McMinnville, Oregon and the home of Coach Nemo in Lincoln City, Oregon. It was just a matter of time that the two Coaches would eventually get together to talk about Nemo's Speed Hitting Program.

Coach Vaughnan states: As coach you are always looking for an advantage or too to help make your players and your team better. Four years ago I came across Coach Nemo and his speed training bats and thought that they would be a great addition to our program. So I ordered five nemo bats and the instructional videos and we began to incorporate many of the drills and concepts into our program.

Now, four years later, we are still using the bats on a daily basis and believe that they are a vital part of our daily hitting routine. The nemo bats have helped our players to increase their bat speed as well as improve their hand-eye coordination and visual tracking ability. The past two seasons we have broken the school records for homeruns, runs scored, slugging percentage, and hits. I think that some of this success has to be attributed to Nemo and his great product. As next year approaches, we will be looking forward to experimenting with Coach Nemo's new product the Multi Hitting Triple Tee."

The Best Was Yet To Come!!!!

The year 2006 season was simply awesome!! There is no better way to describe the Linfield Wildcats 2006 season. The team battled through illness, injuries, hot weather and cross country travel to finish fourth in the nation at the NCAA Division 111 Championships in Raleigh, North Carolina. Linfield came within an eyelash of playing for the national title falling 2-1 to perennial powerhouse Muskingum in the season ending game.

What makes the Wildcats' accomplishments all the more remarkable is the way they were achieved. Linfield starved off elimination eight times in the postseason, Settling scores with several West Region rivals. They did so with a scrambled lineup in which no infielder played her natural position, and without any depth in the outfield.

Capping the year with a 37-11 overall record, the cats equaled the club record for most victories in a season. Linfield captured its first West Regional championships, and won its third Northwest Conference crown with a 22-6 conference record. During the teams great season they broke or tied forty different school records including Batting Average ( .314), Total Hits (472), Slugging Average (.454), Doubles (68), Home runs (22), runs per game (6.15), Stolen Bases (124), and Fielding Average (.969).

The Cats all -star centerfielder, Shelly Steinke, earned third team All-American acclaim from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, and set career records for runs )134), hits (224), RBIs (105), stolen bases (99) and batting average (.383). Voted the NWC Player of the Year, Steinke led a parade of eight Wildcats to earn all NWC honors, including infielders Stephanie Morgan and Meredith Burnette, outfielders Stephanie Riche and Lisa Smith, utility players Erica Hancock and Amanda Attleberger, and pitcher Brittany Miller. Five Linfield athletes were also voted to the NFCA All-West Region team, four earned places on the NCAA West Region all tournament team, and Coach Vaughnan was named the NCAA West Region Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons.

With only four seniors graduating, the future appears bright for the Wildcats. Looking ahead to 2007, "The goal is to get back to the World Series," said Vaughan. "We've learned over the last three years that a lot of hard work and practice is required to compete at the highest level.