Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Case Western Reserve University softball team continued their dominance at Mather Park on Saturday, as the Spartans swept Bluffton University to improve to 10-0 at home this season. CWRU picked up an 11-2 win in five innings over the Beavers in the early contest, and a 13-10 victory in the late affair.
The two wins raised the Spartans record to 18-6 overall, as the team has now won eight straight games. Bluffton fell to 5-15 overall with the losses.
Game 1: CWRU 11, Bluffton 2 (5 innings)
Case Western Reserve collected 12 hits, en route to a 11-2 win in five innings over Bluffton in the early game on Saturday.
The Beavers got on the board in the top of the first with two runs, but the Spartans quickly erased that deficit when they cashed in on four runs in the bottom of the first. Senior Sarah Miller started the scoring as she scored on a wild pitch. CWRU added three more runs when senior Arisa Cleaveland scored on a double steal attempt, senior Hope Yashnik hit a RBI double to right center field and junior Grace Yeung hit into a RBI groundout.
The Spartans added a run in the second and then erupted for six more runs in the bottom of the third. Junior Liv Thomas opened the inning with a solo home run to left center field. The homer was her fourth of the season. Senior Sydney Wagner then drove in a pair of runs later in the inning with a RBI double to right center. CWRU capped off the inning when Miller drilled a three-run homer to right field to give the Spartans an 11-2 lead.
Senior Sidney Brannam started and pitched four innings to earn her team-leading 14th win of the season, while first-year Jenna Jaklich pitched one inning in relief.
Yashnik went a perfect three-for-three at the plate in the first game, while Thomas and first-year Kela Jagoda each went two-for-two during the game.
Game 2: CWRU 13, Bluffton 10
The Case Western Reserve bats continued to stay hot during the second game as the team scored 13 runs on 15 hits to defeat the Beavers 13-10. Yashnik hit a home run during the game, while Cleaveland drove in a game-high four RBI's.
CWRU took the early lead with four runs in the bottom of the first. Included in the inning was a RBI single from Thomas and a two-run homer from Yashnik. The home run was Yashnik's first of the campaign.
After Bluffton scored a run in the top of the second, the Spartans answered with another four-run inning in the bottom of the third. Yeung hit a two-run RBI double in the inning, Wagner drove in a run with a RBI double and Jagoda drove in a run with a RBI single.
The Beavers would respond in the top of the fourth with four runs and then added another run in the top of the fifth to cut the Spartan lead to 8-6. CWRU added two runs in the bottom half of the fifth when Jagoda scored on a wild pitch and Cleaveland hit a sacrifice fly that scored Miller.
The Spartans added on in the bottom of the sixth with a sacrifice fly from Wagner and a two-run RBI single from Cleaveland that increased the CWRU advantage to 13-6. Bluffton attempted a comeback in the top of the seventh as they scored four runs, but the Spartans would hang on to the lead and secure the 13-10 victory.
Brannam started and pitched the first two innings. She then re-entered in the seventh to get the final two outs of the game as she notched her second save of the season. Thomas pitched 2.2 innings in relief as she got credited with the win, her first of the season.
Case Western Reserve will return to action on Monday, April 12th, when the team welcomes Defiance College to Mather Park for a doubleheader. The first pitch on Monday is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
