The 15th-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball team won a pair of one-run games against 21st-ranked Emory University Saturday at Cooper Field in Atlanta to sweep a University Athletic Association doubleheader, taking the first game 5-4 and the second contest 6-5.

The Spartans improved to 16-8 on the season and 3-3 in UAA play, while the Eagles dropped to 21-4 overall and 7-2 in association contests.

#15 CWRU 5, #21 Emory 4 (Game 1)

Neither team scored during the first four innings of the first game, with Lauryn Selvaraj and senior pitcher Lexi Miskey both blanking their opponents. CWRU had a runner on third base with just one out in the second inning but failed to score, and Emory had runners in scoring position in both the second and fourth innings and were unable to capitalize.

The Spartans finally broke the deadlock in the fifth inning when the first three batters in the stanza reached base on an error and two infield singles. Sophomore Kaelyn Zusi entered the game as a pinch-hitter and grounded a ball to shortstop. The throw home was not on time, and Case Western Reserve led 1-0. Sophomore infielder Karen Potts followed with a sacrifice fly to double the advantage, and junior infielder Elizabeth Berry sent a third run home with a single.

Despite a leadoff single in the bottom half of the stanza, CWRU did not allow a run. In a two-out first and third situation, senior catcher Katelyn Lamm threw out the runner attempting to swipe second before the lead runner could cross the plate.

However, the Eagles scored a pair of runs in the sixth inning on a two-out triple by Lillian Ware and tied the game on a run-scoring double from Megan Sutton. Miskey induced a groundout to keep the game tied heading into the final frame.

Sophomore outfielder Nylah Durham was hit by a pitch to begin the seventh inning, promptly stole second base, and advanced to third on a throwing error as the go-ahead run. Zusi executed a perfect bunt single in between the pitcher and the third base line to send Durham home and give the Spartans the lead. Potts followed with a double to put two insurance runs in scoring position, and after the Eagles recorded an out, graduate student infielder KaiLi Gross sent a second run home on a soft ground ball to the pitcher.

In their final at-bat, the Eagles earned two two-out baserunners without a hit on a walk and hit by pitch. A single by Ella Hoyle sent home a run, but the potential game-tying run was thrown out on the basepaths in between second and third base, sealing the win in the opener for the Spartans.

Miskey (10-3) earned the win in the circle, allowing just one run on five hits and three walks in six and one-third innings. She struck out eight Eagles. Mackenzie Duford (10-1) suffered her first loss of the season, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits in two and two-thirds innings of relief.

Senior infielder Isabella Russo, who went two-for-four, had at least two hits for the third consecutive game and eighth time this season after a three-for-four showing in the first game of the series. Zusi's two runs batted in matched a season high.

#15 CWRU 6, #21 Emory 5 (Game 2)

First-year Bella Hunter delivered a pinch-hit go-ahead double in the top of the seventh inning, her first career hit, to help the Spartans sweep the doubleheader. With the score tied at five in the final frame, first-year outfielder Kate Coonan walked with one out to put the go-ahead run on base. Hunter, making just her fourth collegiate at-bat, doubled to send Coonan home and give Case Western Reserve a lead it would not relinquish.

Senior pitcher Kylie Hosey stranded the tying run at second base in the bottom of the frame to secure the series victory. Hosey (6-5) earned the win in relief, allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts in five and two-third innings of work. Isabel Cohen (1-1) suffered the loss as the third Emory pitcher to enter the circle in the game.

CWRU could not score in the first inning of the series finale, despite a pair of hits, while Emory took a 1-0 lead on a double by Hoyle in the bottom of the frame. A bases loaded walk in the second inning brought in another run for the Eagles, but the Spartans escaped further harm with an out at the plate and a groundout.

Case Western Reserve had a baserunner in the first three innings and finally broke through against Emory starting pitcher Lexi Bach in the fourth. With two outs and runners on second and third, Durham laid down a bunt. Bach fielded the ball, but the pitcher could not tag Coonan, who crossed home plate on the single.

Hosey, who came on in relief of Miskey in the second inning, retired the first six batters she faced before back-to-back one-out singles in the bottom of the fourth. After a flyout, a walk loaded the bases for the Eagles. Hosey induced a popup to keep the CWRU deficit at one.

Berry collected her third hit of the game in the following inning with a one-out single, and Gross kept the inning alive with a two-out base knock. Lamm then gave the Spartans a 3-2 lead with a double to left center field, sending both runners across the plate and chasing Bach from the game.

Hosey kept the lead with a perfect bottom half, including two strikeouts, and Berry drove in a pair of runs with a two-out double, her fourth hit of the game, to make the score 5-2. 

The Eagles put a runner on third with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, cutting into the deficit with a single. Ellie Zerr then launched a two-run homer to tie the score at five. Hosey induced a flyout to end the frame and set up the dramatic final inning.

Berry drove in a pair of runs for the second time this season, and her four hits were tied for the most by a Spartan in a single game in 2025. Coonan walked twice in two plate appearances and scored both times she reached base.

The Spartans will continue conference play next weekend, hosting New York University for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 11 at 3 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• CWRU improved to 14-12 against Emory since the beginning of UAA site play in 2017
• Lamm threw out her ninth runner attempting to steal this season, tied for the third-highest total in Division III
• Berry recorded her sixth multi-hit game of the season and first four-hit game this year in the second contest. It marked the second time in her career that she had at least four hits in a game after she matched the program record with five hits against Brandeis last season
• Potts, who had a hit in the first game and a walk and hit by pitch in the second game, extended her on-base streak to 20 consecutive games, the longest stretch by a Spartan in 2025
• All three games in the series were decided by one run
• The runs in the fifth inning of game one ended a 13-inning scoreless streak for the Spartan offense