Behind an eight-run fourth inning, the 17th-ranked Case Western Reserve University softball team won its first game at Regional Round of the 2025 NCAA Division III Softball Championship, defeating Lebanon Valley College 10-2 in five innings at Mather Park in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon.
The Spartans improved to 29-10 overall, while the Flying Dutchmen dropped to 29-14. CWRU will face Wisconsin Whitewater for a spot in the regional final on Friday at 11 a.m. LVC will take on Penn College at 1:30 p.m. in an elimination game on Friday. The Warhawks defeated the Wildcats 5-0 in the first game of the regional.
The win was the 400th in the career of Case Western Reserve Head Coach Josie Henry, who improved to 400-189 in her 15 seasons with the Spartans.
The Spartan offense sent 13 batters to the plate in the pivotal fourth inning, scoring eight times to take a commanding 9-1 lead. Senior catcher Katelyn Lamm started the inning off with a single. Senior infielder Isabella Russo followed with a bunt single that scored a run on a throwing error and put her at third base. Russo evaded a rundown off the bat of first-year outfielder Ashley Miller, who advanced to third base on the play. Sophomore infielder Kaelyn Zusi delivered a pinch-hit single to add a run. Following a walk and a sacrifice bunt, sophomore infielder Karen Potts drove in a pair of runs with a single, and graduate student infielder KaiLi Gross made the score 7-1 with a double. Two batters later, Russo finished the scoring with a bases loaded two-run single.
Lebanon Valley scored a run in the top of the fifth, preventing the game from ending early by the eight-run rule. However, the Spartans scored once in the bottom of the inning on a double by Potts, ending the game.
Senior hurler Lexi Miskey worked around a pair of walks in the first inning, striking out the side to keep the Dutchmen off the scoreboard. Lebanon Valley loaded the bases with one out in the third stanza on a single, walk, and hit batter. Miskey struck out the next batter, but the visitors scored on the second hit batter of the frame to take a 1-0 lead. A second strikeout ended the frame, preventing further damage.
The Spartans pushed a runner to second base in the bottom half of the inning with two outs, and junior infielder Elizabeth Berry sent sophomore outfielder Nylah Durham home with a single to tie the score at one.
Back-to-back one-out singles by the Flying Dutchmen put two runners aboard in the fourth. A groundout moved both Lebanon Valley players into scoring position, but Miskey again escaped with a strikeout, her eighth of the game, keeping the score tied.
Miskey (18-4) earned the win in the circle, tossing four innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits while striking out eight. Senior pitcher Kylie Hosey finished the game, conceding a run on two hits and a walk.
Potts drove in three runs in a game for the fourth time this season and collected multiple hits for the 13th time in 2025. Berry and Russo each had a pair of hits for the squad, and Lamm and Gross extended their hitting streaks to five games.
Spartan Notes
- CWRU evened the all-time series between the two schools at 1-1, avenging an 11-1 five-inning loss in Florida in 2011
- Lebanon Valley is making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship
- The Spartans improved to 21-14 in NCAA Tournament games and 12-4 in the postseason at Mather Park. Case Western Reserve has hosted at least one round of the Tournament in each of the last four seasons and has appeared in the postseason on six occasionsÂ
- Henry has the most wins and best winning percentage of any head coach in CWRU Softball history. Her 400 wins are 256 more than Jennie Amodio, who led the squad from 2000-08, and her .679 winning percentage is better than the program's first-ever Head Coach, Karen Farrell, who went 60-36-1 (.624)Â from 1996-99
- Potts and Russo both recorded a multi-hit game for 13th time during the 2025 campaign
