CWRU Softball Sweeps Final UAA Athlete of the Week Awards of Regular Season

Case Western Reserve University junior pitcher Lexi Miskey and senior infielder KaiLi Gross each received University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week honors for their performances this weekend.

Miskey, the UAA Pitcher of the Week, matched a program record with 14 strikeouts in a single game, helping the seventh-ranked Spartans sweep a doubleheader with the University of Chicago on Saturday at Mather Park in Cleveland. Miskey threw all seven innings in a 4-2 win over the Maroons, limiting Chicago to two runs on six hits while striking out 14. She tied her own program record for strikeouts in a single game, set against TCNJ in the 2022 NCAA Regional Round, and set a program record for most punchouts in a seven-inning contest.

Miskey, who also became the school's all-time leader in career strikeouts with 542, has a record of 20-3 this season with 178 strikeouts in 134 and one-third innings while limiting opponents to a .175 batting average. This is her third UAA Pitcher of the Week honor and the 11th of her career.

Gross, the UAA Hitter of the Week, collected five hits and six runs batted in for the Spartans during the team's doubleheader sweep of the University of Chicago on Saturday. In the second game of the twin bill, an 8-4 win, Gross drove in six runs, a career high and one shy of tying the program record, going two-for-two with a home run, a double, and a sacrifice fly. In the first inning, she gave the team a 2-0 lead with her team-leading eighth home run of the season, and she followed that with a three-run double in the fourth inning. Her sixth RBI came on a sacrifice fly which was the ninth of her career, matching a program record. In the first game, a 4-2 victory, Gross went three-for-four with a run scored.

Gross raised her batting average to .408 for the season and increased her OPS to a team-leading 1.180 with the performance. In addition to the eight round trippers, Gross has a team-high 53 runs batted in, 15 doubles, and 18 stolen bases. This is her second UAA Athlete of the Week honor this season and the fourth of her career.

CWRU ended the regular season with a record of 34-6 after the two non-conference victories. The Spartans, who secured the conference's automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division III Softball Championship with their third consecutive league title, will host a four-team regional to begin the postseason. Case Western Reserve begins action with a game against Penn St. Behrend on Thursday, May 16 at 12 p.m. while 21st-ranked Calvin and 23rd-ranked Dominican square off at 2:30 p.m.

The following members of the CWRU softball team have earned weekly honors during the 2024 season:

UAA Athlete of the Week
March 4: Kylie Hosey (Pitcher)
March 4: Stevie Rieger (Hitter)
March 11: Kela Jagoda (Hitter)
March 18: KaiLi Gross (Hitter)
March 18: Lexi Miskey (Pitcher)
April 1: Kylie Hosey (Pitcher)
April 22: Karen Potts (Hitter)
April 29: Lexi Miskey (Pitcher)
May 6: Isabella Russo (Hitter)
May 13: KaiLi Gross (Hitter)
May 13: Lexi Miskey (Pitcher)