Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Case Western Reserve University softball team earned their third consecutive doubleheader sweep, as the team claimed two wins at Denison University in Granville, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon. CWRU picked up a 16-1 victory in five innings over the Big Red in the early contest, and a 7-1 win in the late affair.
The wins raised the Spartans' record to 16-6 overall, while Denison fell to 6-10 overall with the losses.
Senior pitcher Sidney Brannam continued to dominate on the mound as she started and earned the win in each of the two games, holding the Big Red to just one run on six hits with eight strikeouts in 10 innings. She improved to a team-best 13-1 overall on the season, while lowering her earned run average to 1.66
Game 1: CWRU 16, Denison 1 (5 innings)
The Spartans scored all their runs in the second, third and fifth innings to secure the 16-1 win over the Big Red in the opening game of the doubleheader on Tuesday.
Brannam went the distance in the first game, holding Denison to one run on three hits and striking out three batters.
Junior Grace Yeung got the Spartans on the board in the second inning with a two-run homer to left field that scored senior Hope Yashnik. The home run was her third of the season. The scored remained 2-0 until the top of the third when Case Western Reserve broke out for seven runs in the frame. Senior Dusstyn Reynolds accounted for a RBI double in the inning, while Yashnik registered an RBI single. Seniors Sydney Wagner and Sarah Miller also got credited with RBI's during the inning.
Denison scored a run in the bottom half of the third to cut the CWRU lead to 9-1 after three innings of play. The Spartans then added seven more runs in the fifth, including RBI singles from senior Arisa Cleaveland, Reynolds, junior Liv Thomas and first-year Elise Rolston and a RBI double from Wagner.
Cleaveland, Reynolds, Yashnik, Wagner and first-year Kela Jagoda each contributed two hits to the Spartans' 14 total hits throughout the game.
Noelle Chovanec started and suffered the loss for the Big Red in the first game, dropping to 1-2 on the season.
Game 2: CWRU 7, Denison 1
Thomas led the Spartans at the plate in the late game, as she went two-for-three with a home run and three runs batted in.
CWRU got on the board early after Cleaveland hit a RBI single up the middle to score Miller. Reynolds then hit an RBI groundout that scored Cleaveland, giving the Spartans a 2-0 lead after the top of the first.
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the sixth when the Spartans added two more runs to the board. The runs came via a two-run homer from Thomas that went over the center field fence. The home run was her third of the season.
CWRU continued adding to the lead in the seventh when Thomas notched a RBI double to center field that scored Cleaveland, giving the Spartans a 5-0 advantage. Case Western Reserve wrapped up their scoring later in that inning when Yeung laced a RBI single to right field that scored Yashnik and first-year Savannah Gazda. The Big Red scored a run in the bottom half of the inning, but the Spartans were able to hold on for the 7-1 victory.
Cleaveland, Yashnik and Yeung each finished the game two-for-four at the plate.
Brannam started and pitched the first five innings as she didn't allow a run on three hits and two walks, while striking out five. Thomas pitched the final two innings in relief, allowing one run on two hits and a walk. Taylor Faulkenberg was credited with the loss for Denison, falling to 0-5 on the year.
Case Western Reserve will now return home to Mather Park on Friday, April 9th as they begin a long homestand with a doubleheader against Franciscan University. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
