Box Score Senior shortstop Sarah Miller continued to crush the ball as she hit three home runs, but the Case Western Reserve University softball team suffered a 5-4 loss in extra-innings at NCAA Division I Kent State University on Sunday afternoon in Kent, Ohio.
The loss dropped the Spartans to 20-7 overall on the season, while the Golden Flashes improved to 12-17 overall with the win.
Miller hit three home runs to account for all the Spartans' runs on Sunday, as she increased her season total to 13 on the season. Entering the weekend, Miller ranked tied for second among all NCAA Division III players in home runs.
In addition, Miller's three home runs tied a program record for home runs in a single-game as former Spartan Annie Wennerberg hit three home runs in two separate games during the 2015 season.
Miller led off the game with a solo home run to center field to give CWRU an early 1-0 lead. Kent State responded the next half inning as they scored a run to even the game at 1-1.
The score remained 1-1 until the top of the third when Miller hit her second home run of the game, a solo shot to left field, that reclaimed the lead for the Spartans at 2-1. The Golden Flashes once again responded the next half inning as they evened the score at 2-2 after three innings of play.
Neither team could push a run across for the next four innings as they went to extra innings tied at 2-2.
The eighth and ninth innings were scoreless as well, until Miller stepped up to the plate in the 10th inning and launched her third home run of the game. The home run was a two-run shot to center field that scored first-year Jordon Manworren.
However, Kent State scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the 10th to tie the game and then scored the game-winning run in the 11th on a walk-off RBI single to secure the 5-4 victory.
Senior pitcher Sidney Brannam went the distance as she allowed five runs, two earned, on 13 hits and struck out four batters. She dropped to 16-2 on the season with the loss. Gabbie Sherman was credited with the win for the Golden Flashes, improving to 3-7 on the campaign.
Miller led the Spartans at the plate with a three-for-five performance, while junior Liv Thomas, senior Sydney Wagner and sophomore Carli Tucci each tallied a hit throughout the game.
Case Western Reserve will return to action on Tuesday, April 27th when the team travels to Canton for a doubleheader against Malone University. First pitched is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The Spartans' originally scheduled doubleheader at Ohio Wesleyan University on Sunday, April 25th has been cancelled.
