Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The 11th-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball team earned a signature win early in its campaign, defeating top-ranked Christopher Newport University 3-2 at the Fran Salm Triangle Classic in Raleigh, North Carolina on Sunday. The Spartans also went on to defeat Arcadia University 14-1 in five innings later in the day to complete their opening weekend of the 2023 campaign with a perfect 4-0 record.
Game 1 - #11 CWRU 3, Christopher Newport 2
Sophomore Lexi Miskey struck out nine batters in seven innings and senior Amanda Riely drove in the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning as the Spartans upset the reigning NCAA DIII Champion Captains 3-2 in the first game of the day.
Miskey held Christopher Newport to just two runs on five hits and a pair of walks over seven innings to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the year. Through two games this weekend, she struck out 19 batters in 14 innings and registered a 1.50 ERA.
Junior KaiLi Gross, senior Carli Tucci, and first-year Elizabeth Berry each tallied a hit for the Spartans in the game. Gross scored two of the team's three runs and added a stolen base in the contest.
CWRU struck early in the game with two runs in the bottom of the first. Gross walked to start the game, stole second, advanced to third on an error, and then scored on a passed ball. Later in the inning, a Tucci run-scoring single played junior Kela Jagoda to extend the Spartans' lead to 2-0. However, the Captains tied the game in the next half inning on a two-out, two-run home run by Abby Rochette.
The score remained 2-2 until the bottom of the third when the Spartans loaded the bases with one out in the inning. Riely drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to right field, putting CWRU in front 3-2.
Miskey maintained the lead, at one point retiring seven straight batters. She got into trouble in the fifth when Christopher Newport loaded the bases with one out but got a strikeout and a caught stealing to get out of the frame with the lead still intact. She went on to pitch around a runner in scoring position in the sixth as well and retired the side in order to notch her second complete-game win of the season.
Coming off a 47-1 season in 2022, Christopher Newport fell to 2-1 following the loss. Jamie Martin pitched all six innings in the loss for the Captains, falling to 1-1 on the season.
Game 2 – CWRU 14, Arcadia 1 (5 inn.)
After a close-played first game of the day, the Spartans' bats exploded for 14 runs in a 14-1 win over Arcadia to wrap up the weekend.
CWRU pounded out 15 hits in the game, scoring four runs in each of the first three innings and one each in the fourth and fifth to cruise to the victory. Four different Spartans had multiple hits in the game, including Jagoda, who went two-for-four with three runs, three RBIs, a double, and two stolen bases. Gross added a two-for-three showing with three runs, a double, a walk, and a stolen base, senior Carli Tucci was two-for-two with three runs, an RBI, and a walk, and junior Kaila Nutter went two-for-two with an RBI.
As a team, CWRU stole nine bases in the game, including two apiece for Jagoda, Tucci, and first-year Brianna Landers.
Sophomore Kylie Hosey started and pitched three perfect innings with three strikeouts, earning the win to improve to 3-0 and lower her ERA to 2.33. Junior Jenna Jaklich allowed a run on two hits in the fourth, and first-year Devanghi Misra worked around a pair of hits in a scoreless fifth to close out the win.
Paige Nolas allowed four runs in the first inning to suffer the loss for Arcadia, falling to 0-2 on the season. The Knights fell to 2-2 with the loss.
Next up for the Spartans will be a stretch of 10 games in six days at the Spring Games in Winter Haven, Florida from Sunday, March 12 through Friday, March 17.
