The seventh-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball team used a season-high 14 runs to defeat New York University 14-2 in five innings on Sunday at Mather Park in Cleveland to complete a four-game series sweep to begin University Athletic Association play.
The Spartans improved to 19-2 with their 11th consecutive win and 4-0 in conference play. The Violets fell to 5-13 overall and 0-4 in the UAA.
The 14 runs and 15 hits in the contest are the most this season in a single game for Case Western Reserve. The run total is the highest since the team scored 15 against Penn State Altoona on May 18, 2023, in the NCAA Regional, and the 15 hits are the most since the Spartans had 16 in a 12-5 win over Brandeis on April 7, 2023.
First-year Karen Potts had her third three-hit game of the season, and her second of the series, going three-for-three with a home run, three runs scored, and two runs driven in. Seniors Kela Jagoda, KaiLi Gross, and Stevie Rieger all collected two hits, with Jagoda scoring three times, Gross driving in two runs, and Rieger scoring twice and contributing two runs batted in. Junior Isabella Russo had a two-hit game with two runs batted in.
NYU loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first inning, but senior pitcher Jenna Jaklich, making her second career start, induced a flyout to end the threat.
After Jagoda led off the bottom half of the opening stanza with a single, Potts slugged her second home run of the season to give CWRU an early 2-0 lead.
The Violets responded in the next frame, plating two runs to tie the score at two.
In the third inning, Rieger helped Case Western Reserve regain the advantage, driving in two runs with a one-out single. Following a stolen base, she scored on a single by sophomore Elizabeth Berry to make the score 5-2. Berry then crossed home on a double off the bat of first-year Alaina Steffes to increase the lead to four. After a deep flyout to centerfield, Russo drove in the final run of the inning with a single.
Gross, who extended her hitting streak to 14 games in the first inning, added two more runs with a single in the fourth. The runs were the first of seven in the frame for the Spartans who broke open a 14-2 lead. Russo had a run-scoring single, and first-year Kaelyn Zusi and senior Kaila Nutter each drove in runs with pinch-hit doubles.
Junior Lexi Miskey (11-2) earned the win in relief, allowing just one hit and a walk in two and two-third innings while striking out four. Jaklich went one and one-third innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Sophomore Devanghi Misra pitched a perfect fifth inning with a strikeout to close out the win.
CWRU will continue UAA play next weekend with a four-game home series against Emory University starting on Friday, April 5 at 3 p.m.
