CLEVELAND, Ohio – The No. 6 Washington University in St. Louis split its UAA doubleheader against Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) on Saturday afternoon. The Bears won the first game in eight innings before falling in the second game.

The Bears are now 13-3-1 overall with a 1-2 UAA mark.

Game 1: WashU 7, CWRU 4 (8 innings)
The Bears went up 3-0 in the bottom of the second inning. First-year Austen Kinney led off with a single to right. With two outs, sophomore Kennedy Rushing singled to center and, in the next at-bat, first-year Julia Sullo drilled a homer to right to put the Bears ahead.

WashU added another run in the top of the third. Sophomore Harper Nix led off with a single up the middle and junior Kristina Donaldson singled to second. Both runners moved up a base on a groundout from junior Julia Nicholus, and Nix went on to score on a double from Kinney to left field for the 4-0 advantage.

The Spartans broke through for a run in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Nylah Durham doubled to left-center. Kate Coonan reached on an error, putting runners on the corners. With two outs, Elizabeth Berry singled through the right side, scoring Coonan for the 4-1 game.

CWRU scored again in the bottom of the fifth inning. Durham drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch before moving to third on a groundout from Coonan. Berry singled, scoring Durham to make it a 4-2 game.

The Spartans went on to tie it in the bottom of the sixth inning. Lacey Lara drew a leadoff walk. With one out, Durham bunted to third, advancing Tara Fritscher, who came on to run for Lara, to third. Durham stole second and Coonan reached on a fielder's choice. Berry singled to second, scoring Fritscher before Karen Potts hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Durham to make it 4-4.

In the top of the eighth inning, WashU put up three runs that ended up winning the game in extras. Junior Kennedy Grippo led off with a single to the pitcher and senior Alexa Hanish drew a walk. Sullo reached on a fielder's choice, but Hanish was safe at second due to an error, loading the bases. With two outs, Donaldson tripled to right, scoring all runners for a 7-4 game.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, CWRU loaded the bases, but junior Maria Brooks struck out Alaina Steffes looking to hold on to the win.

Kinney went 4-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Donaldson finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and Sullo was 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Brooks earned the win in the circle for a 7-0 season record, pitching a complete game with nine hits, three earned runs, and four strikeouts.

Game 2: CWRU 10, WashU 7
CWRU came out to score two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Coonan led off with a single down the right-field line and moved up on a Berry sacrifice bunt. Potts singled to short to put runners on the corners and then stole second before advancing to third on an error. Coonan scored on a throwing error for the 1-0 game. Camryn McLelland singled through the left side, scoring Potts for the 2-0 lead.

The Bears put up their first run in the top of the third. Sullo drew a one-out walk before stealing both second and third. Nix and Donaldson were both hit by pitches, and first-year Katie Fung singled up the middle, scoring Sullo for a 2-1 game.

In the bottom of the third, the Spartans scored three runs to take a 5-1 advantage. Berry reached on an error to lead off the inning. Potts reached on a fielder's choice to second base and then stole second. McLelland singled to right-center, scoring Potts for the first run of the inning.

With two outs, McLelland stole second and Steffes drew a walk. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch and both scored on a Riley Williams single to center.

CWRU added two more in the bottom of the fourth. Durham led off with a bunt single to the pitcher, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error. Berry hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Durham. Potts followed with a walk and stole second before McLelland reached on a fielding error, scoring Potts for a 7-1 lead.

Steffes reached on a fielding error to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Sierra Ejercito came on to run for Steffes, stole second, and advanced to third on an error. Sophia Becker drove in Ejercito with a grounder to short, making it an 8-1 game for the Spartans.

The Bears came out in the top of the sixth inning to score three runs. Nix drew a leadoff walk. Sophomore Christina Smith, who came on to run for Nix, advanced to second on a single to center from Rushing, and both moved up a base on a throwing error.

Kinney drew a walk to load the bases and first-year Katie Dolin was hit by a pitch to score Smith. Grippo singled to left field and advanced on the throw, scoring both Rushing and Kinney to make it an 8-4 game.

CWRU scored its final two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Berry hit a one-out single to short and Potts doubled to left field. With two outs, Natalie Ching singled up the middle, scoring both Berry and Potts to extend their lead to 10-4.

The Bears rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Junior Elena Locascio drew a leadoff walk and Nix was hit by a pitch. Donaldson followed with a walk to load the bases.
With two outs, Kinney singled to left field, scoring Locascio. Senior Sydney Schneider singled to short, scoring Nix and Donaldson.

Kinney finished 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored, while Schneider was 1-for-1 with two RBI. Junior Hattie Bond took the loss in the circle, pitching 2.2 innings with five hits, one earned run, two walks, and a strikeout.

WashU is back home next weekend for a UAA series against the University of Chicago. The Bears begin with a 3 p.m. game on Friday, which will be the Pride Game. On Saturday, the teams will face off in a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m., which will be The Hidden Opponent (THO) game.

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