By Ellen Walter
The Case Western Reserve softball team will play in its first ever Super Regional game today (May 18) against Hope College in Holland, Michigan. This is the furthest the team has ever advanced in the NCAA Division III Tournament, earning this position by beating out three other teams this past weekend. In the Super Regional round, they will face Hope College in a best-of-three series with games at 4 p.m. today and 1 and 3:30 p.m. tomorrow (May 19).
The Spartans advanced to the tournament as one of 19 teams selected from Pool C, a group of teams that are not automatically qualified to compete but may be chosen. The team’s joyful reaction to being selected was captured on video.
The team played their first five games of the tournament in the Notre Dame Regional Friday, May 11, through Sunday, May 13. In the first game, they fell 1-0 to Ohio Northern University, and went on to play Mt. Aloysius College Saturday. The Spartans triumphed 7-0, earning their first shutout of the tournament and going on to play host St. Mary’s College later that day. Again, the Spartans were victorious, beating their first-seeded opponent 6-2.
Both the Spartans and their first adversary, Ohio Northern University, came out of the round robin with two wins and a loss. They played two games Sunday in the Regional Championship to determine which would advance to the next round. The Spartans won both soundly, earning a shutout (5-0) in the first and scoring 5-1 in the second.
The wins were not the team’s only successes; several players were recognized for their outstanding performance over the weekend. First-year outfielders Sarah Miller and Arisa Cleaveland and junior infielder Nicole Doyle were named to the All Notre Dame Regional Team, comprising a third of the honorees from four schools. Additionally, sophomore pitcher Ilissa Hamilton was named Most Outstanding Player of the round after pitching 29 of 35 innings Sunday and allowing only one run in the last two matches.