Two members of the Case Western Reserve University softball team, graduate student infielder KaiLi Gross and senior catcher Katelyn Lamm, received Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communicators on Tuesday.
Gross was named to the Academic All-America First Team for the third time in her career, and Lamm received Academic All-America Second Team honors for the first time in her career.
Since the inception of the program, 124 CWRU student-athletes have earned 182 Academic All-America selections, including eight Spartan student-athletes so far this year. This is the second consecutive year the CWRU softball team had multiple Academic All-Americans and the eighth year in a row the Spartans had a student-athlete selected. The team has nine all-time honors from CSC/CoSIDA, including four for Gross.
Gross becomes the second Spartan student-athlete in any sport to earn three Academic All-America First Team honors, joining Lily McCloskey of the women's tennis team. A Third Team honoree in 2022, she is one of two Spartans all-time to earn four Academic All-America honors in a single sport, joining Anika Washburn who was a member of the women's soccer team from 2019-22. Erin Hollinger, who was a member of both the women's basketball and women's track and field teams from 2008-12 received five Academic All-America honors.
Gross was named to the NFCA All-America First Team last month and is a four-time All-University Athletic Association First Team selection. She led the team this season in batting average (.437), on-base percentage (.481), slugging percentage (.810), runs scored (45), runs batted in (45), doubles (16), triples (two), and home runs (11). She added 13 stolen bases and struck out just eight times in 142 at-bats. At second base, Gross had a .952 fielding percentage, making 79 putouts and 40 assists. She finished her career as the all-time leader in 13 offensive categories and finished her undergraduate career with a 3.97 cumulative GPA and has earned a 4.0 GPA as a graduate student in the biomedical engineering program.
Lamm, the UAA Position Player of the Year and an NFCA All-Region Third Team selection during her breakout senior season, hit .381 for the Spartans while starting every game behind the plate in 2025 to receive NFCA All-Region Third Team selection. She slugged seven home runs and 12 doubles, recorded an on-base percentage of .433 and slugging percentage of .643, and drove in 32 runs in 42 games. She was named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team after going eight-for-12 with two home runs and two walks in four games. In 139 games across four seasons, Lamm hit 11 home runs and drove in 53 runs, compiling 89 hits in 300 at-bats. She threw out 24 baserunners attempting to steal in her career, the third-most ever by a Spartan backstop. Academically, she had a 3.90 cumulative GPA as a mechanical and aerospace engineering major.
The 2024-25 Academic All-America Softball Team, selected by CSC, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America program separately recognizes softball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA.
The Division III CSC Academic All-America program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2024-25 Division III Academic All-America programs.
The CWRU softball team reached the postseason and won 30 games for the fourth consecutive year. The Spartans, who fell to Wisconsin Whitewater in the Cleveland Regional final on Saturday, ended the 2025 campaign with a record of 30-12.
