The 15th-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball team dropped the opener of a three-game University Athletic Association series with 21st-ranked Emory University in heartbreaking fashion on Friday afternoon at Cooper Field in Atlanta, losing 1-0 in nine innings.

The Spartans fell to 14-8 on the season and 1-3 in conference play, while the Eagles improved to 21-2 overall and 7-0 in UAA contests.

The first baserunner in scoring position for either team occurred in the third inning, when sophomore outfielder Nylah Durham stole second with two outs after reaching following being hit by a pitch. The following frame, a pair of two-out singles put two runners on base for the Spartans, but the team could not push a run across the plate.

Emory recorded its first hit of the game in the fourth inning on a double by Shivani Nangia, putting runners at second and third with two outs. Senior pitcher Lexi Miskey induced a lineout to keep the game scoreless heading into the fifth inning. She worked around two walks in the following stanza in her final inning of work, finishing the contest with five strikeouts and five walks in five innings. Miskey allowed just one hit against the Eagles and did not factor into the decision.

Senior infielder Isabella Russo led off the seventh inning with a single, her third hit of the game, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Emory starting pitcher Mackenzie Duford stifled the next two CWRU hitters, recording a groundout and flyout to give her team a walk-off opportunity in the bottom of the frame.

A one-out single put the winning run on first base in the last inning of regulation, however, the Spartans turned a double play on a lineout to force extra innings. Case Western Reserve repeated the twin-killer in the bottom of the eighth inning, turning a 4-6-3 double play with the potential winning run on second base to extend the game to nine innings.

After a ninth scoreless inning from Duford, Grace Cooper delivered the game-winning hit with a two-out double.

Duford (10-0) earned the shutout victory, scattering seven hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Senior pitcher Kylie Hosey (5-5) picked up a tough-luck loss in the circle, allowing one run on four hits with two strikeouts in three and two-third relief innings.

The Spartans and Eagles will conclude their series on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• The loss dropped CWRU to 12-12 against Emory since the start of UAA site play in 2017
• Russo had her third game of at least three hits this season and seventh multi-hit game of the campaign
• With a single in the eighth inning, sophomore infielder Karen Potts extended her streak of consecutive games reaching base to 18, the longest for any Spartan this season by 10 games
• The nine-inning game was the longest for CWRU since a nine-inning 6-2 win over Gettysburg on March 14, 2024, and the longest UAA game for the Spartans since a 10-inning 6-4 win over WashU on April 27, 2019