Case Western Reserve University sophomore Arisa Cleaveland's walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning in the second game of day, helped to secure the Spartans' split against New York University on Friday afternoon at Mather Park. The Spartans dropped the early contest 4-2, but the came back in the second game to win 5-3 on the walk-off home run.

With the split, the Spartans move to 12-6 overall and 1-1 in the UAA, while the Violets dropped are now 11-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

Game 1: NYU 4, CWRU 2
The Spartans opened the scoring in the first game of the day, as freshman Brittany Hoopingarner crossed home plate in the bottom of the second inning to take 1-0 lead. NYU quickly responded the next half inning as they scored to even the game at 1-1.

CWRU regained the lead in the bottom of the third when junior Nicole Carty laced a double to left field that scored senior Nicole Doyle. However, the Spartans would allow three runs in the top of the fifth, and the Violets were able to hold for the 4-2 victory.

Doyle, Cleveland, Carty, freshman Liv Thomas, junior Melissa Cuellar and sophomore Sydney Wagner each tallied a hit in the game.

On the mound, junior Ilissa Hamilton allowed two earned runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out seven batters. She fell to 5-3 on the year. Karissa Zubulake earned the complete-game win for the Violets, improving to 4-1 on the season.

Game 2: CWRU 5, NYU 3
NYU started the scoring early in the contest, as Ashley Mains hit a RBI single to right field to score Diana King.

The Violets would add another run in the top of the fifth to increase the lead to 2-0. The Spartans quickly responded the next half inning as Cuellar launched her third home run of the season to cut the deficit to 3-1. Cleaveland and Wagner then stepped up to the plate and each delivered RBI singles to take a 3-2 lead after five innings of play.

NYU scored a run in the top of the seventh to even the game at 3-3. The Spartans entered the bottom of the seventh needing one run to end the game in walk-off fashion. Thomas started the inning by reaching on an error by the Violets second baseman. Freshman Hannah Olivares then came in to pinch run for Thomas. In the next at-bat, Cleaveland delivered the game-winning two-run home run over the right center field wall to give the Spartans the 5-3 walk-off victory.

Sophomore Sidney Brannam got the start on the mound, going the distance and striking out three batters to earn the win. She improved to 6-2 overall on the season. Scarlett Murphy took the loss for NYU in relief and fell to 3-2 on the season.

Cleaveland finished the second game two-for-four at the plate with one home run and three RBI's.

Case Western Reserve will return to action tomorrow, as they wrap-up their four-game series against NYU. The first game of the doubleheader is slated to start at 1:00 p.m.