Behind a five-inning 11-3 win over Catholic University and a walk-off 6-5 victory over Hope College, the seventh-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball ended its spring break trip to Florida with a sweep on Friday at Hancock Park in Clermont.
With the two wins, the Spartans improved to 13-2 on the season and finished their Florida trip with a record of 9-1. The Cardinals dropped to 7-6, and the Flying Dutch, who had won eight straight contests entering the day, fell to 10-6.
Junior pitcher Lexi Miskey earned wins in both contests to improve to 8-2 on the season. She totaled 16 strikeouts in just seven and one-third innings of work to increase her career total to 426 and move into second place in program history. Miskey allowed three runs on three hits on Friday, moving her earned run average to 1.55 this season.
#7 CWRU 11, Catholic 3 (5 inn.)
Catholic scored first in the first game of the day, using a double to plate a leadoff walk in the first inning.
CWRU responded in the third inning, scoring three runs to take the lead. The Spartans capitalized on a pair of two-out errors to score the first two runs of the game, and senior KaiLi Gross produced a run-scoring single to make the score 3-1.
Catholic tied the score at three in the top of the next frame, as Katie Scolese delivered a two-run double for her second and third runs driven in of the contest. With Scolese on second, Miskey struck out the side to preserve the tie in her final inning of work.
Senior Stevie Rieger led off the bottom of the third inning with a double, scoring on a wild pitch to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead. Junior Isabella Russo drove in a run with a groundout to further the team's advantage.
The Spartans added two more runs in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Rieger and a single off the bat of sophomore Elizabeth Berry.
Following a pitching change before the fifth inning, Case Western Reserve scored four times to end the game by run rule. First-year Nylah Durham drove in her first career run with a sacrifice fly, senior Kela Jagoda followed with a run-scoring double, Gross plated a run with a single, and first-year Karen Potts ended the contest with a single that scored Gross.
Junior pitcher Kylie Hosey came on in relief of Miskey, allowing only one base runner in the final two innings to earn her first save of the season. She struck out two batters in two scoreless innings. Miskey allowed three runs on three hits in three innings, striking out seven.
Potts had a three-hit game, the first of her career, driving in a run and scoring once. Gross drove in a pair of runs on two hits to increase her team-leading RBI total to 17, and Jagoda, Berry, and Russo each collected two hits. The Spartans had a season-high 13 hits in the game, and the 11 runs were the team's most in a single game in 2024.
#7 CWRU 6, Hope 5
Trailing 5-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, CWRU rallied to walk off the Flying Dutch to end the day and Florida trip.
Berry started the final frame with a walk, moved to second on a single by Russo, and scored on a single by junior Katelyn Lamm. With two runners in scoring position, senior Kaila Nutter delivered a pinch-hit single, cutting the deficit to one. Sophomore Tara Fritscher, who was running for Nutter, advanced to third on a Jagoda single. She scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly delivered by Gross.
With two outs, Potts extended her career-starting hitting streak to 15 games, delivering a walk-off run-scoring single through the left side that allowed Jagoda to score.
Prior to the final inning, Hope starting pitcher Samantha Vermeesch handled the Spartan bats, allowing only a solo home run by Lamm and hits by Jagoda and Gross in the first six frames. She took the loss in the circle, allowing six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts, to fall to 3-2 on the season.
After a scoreless first two innings, the Flying Dutch scored five runs in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Sophie Stironek drove in two runs with a single, and Jennaka Bultman followed with a two-run single of her own to chase Hosey, the Spartan starter.
Miskey finished the inning with a strikeout and did not allow a hit over the final four innings of the game. She struck out nine of the 16 Hope batters she faced, allowing only three batters to reach base.
Lamm slugged her home run in the fifth inning, the junior catcher's second of the season and her career. The solo shot cut made the score 5-1. She ended the game with two hits in three at-bats, scoring once and driving in two runs. Jagoda had her first three-hit game of the season and finished the day with five hits overall in seven at-bats.
The CWRU softball team will next return to Ohio and take a seven-day break from intercollegiate competition before facing the College of Wooster on the road on Saturday, March 23. The doubleheader between the Spartans and Fighting Scots is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Wooster, Ohio. Case Western Reserve's first home game is scheduled for Friday, March 29, a 3 p.m. contest against New York University to begin conference play.
