The third-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball team matched a program record with its 38th win of the season, defeating Penn State Altoona 15-1 in five innings on the first day of the Regional Round of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship at Mather Park in Cleveland on Thursday evening.

The top-seeded Spartans, who improved to 38-3 with the win, will face third-seeded Hiram in the winners' bracket on Friday at 12 p.m. The Lions, who fell to 25-12 with the loss, will face second-seeded Mount Union in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. Hiram defeated Mount Union 3-1 in the first game of the double-elimination regional.

Case Western Reserve previously won 38 games during the 2018 season, when the team reached the NCAA Championship and ultimately finished fifth in Division III.

Eight Spartans recorded a base hit in the contest, led by three from senior infielder Amanda Riely, her seventh three-hit game of the season. Junior infielder KaiLi Gross, sophomore infielder Isabella Russo, first-year catcher Anna Gobeyn, and junior outfielder Stevie Rieger each collected two hits in the game, as Case Western Reserve totaled 14 hits.

After a perfect top of the first inning, the Spartans struck for nine runs in their first time at bat. Russo started the scoring with a double, plating Gross. A single by Riely brought in Russo. Three batters later, junior infielder Kaila Nutter and first-year infielder Elizabeth Berry each drove in a pair of runs with back-to-back singles. Gross, batting for the second time of the inning, plated two runs with a single, and she scored the ninth run of the frame on a single by Riely.

The Lions cut into the deficit with a run in the second inning, but CWRU responded with four runs in the bottom half. Berry drove in a run with a groundout, first-year outfielder Brianna Landers brought in a run with an infield single, Gross collected her third RBI of the day with a single, and Russo made the score 13-1 with a single.

Following a scoreless third inning, Riely added her third and fourth runs driven in with a double, making the score 15-1.

A trio of pitchers limited the Lions to just one run on four hits. Sophomore Lexi Miskey started the game in the circle, allowing the run on one hit and no walks while compiling four strikeouts. Sophomore Kylie Hosey (14-2) earned the win in relief, allowing two hits in two scoreless innings with a strikeout. Junior Jenna Jaklich pitched a scoreless fifth inning, working around a walk and a hit with a pair of strikeouts.

The 15 runs are the most in a game this season for the Spartans, and the most since the team scored 16 against Carnegie Mellon last season. CWRU scored double-digit runs for the ninth time this season and third time in its last six games.