Union College Athletics

Honors and Awards:
- All-Liberty League Honorable Mention (2025)
- Liberty League Rookie of the Week (4/7/25, 4/28/25)
- Freshman Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award (2024-25)

At Union: Member of Best Buddies

2026: Went 9-10 with a 3.34 earned run average and 127 strikeouts in 128.0 innings of work … posted 14 complete games, two shutouts, and a save in 22 appearances (19 starts) … finished the year as the Liberty League leader in strikeouts, strikeouts looking (38) and complete games, while also finishing second in wins, shutouts and innings pitched, and also finished third on Union's single-season strikeouts list … started the year with a dominant 14-strikeout shutout over Centenary (N.J.) on March 7, the most punchouts in a game by a Union hurler since 2014 … had an impressive one-run, eight-strikeout win over eventual conference champion #25 Rochester in late April … in first two seasons in Schenectady, Cleaves is 17-16 with a 3.05 ERA and 217 strikeouts in 229.2 innings, already ranking seventh in program history in strikeouts with two years still to go.

2025: Appeared in 19 games with 14 starts in the circle as a first-year … posted an 8-6 record with a 2.69 earned run average and 90 strikeouts in 101.2 innings … second in the Liberty League in strikeouts, complete games (12) and saves (2); third in shutouts (3); sixth in batting average against (.257); and seventh in wins and ERA … also hit .230 (14 of 61) with a double, triple, 11 runs batted in and seven runs scored … tossed a three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts to earn her first collegiate win over Knox (3/23) … went 2-for-3 with a season-best three RBIs at the plate against Oberlin (3/25) … struck out a season-high 10 and allowed only one seventh-inning run while also scoring the eventual game-winning run to knock off Ithaca (4/4) … punched out five of the eight batters she faced in relief against MCLA (4/22) … tossed nine scoreless innings in two games against RIT (4/25), throwing a two-hit shutout in game one and adding a pair of scoreless innings to earn a game-two save … threw Union’s first no-hitter in over a decade with a five-inning win over SUNY Potsdam (4/28), conceding only one hit batter.

Before Union: A 2024 graduate of Plano West Senior High School … played four years of softball and one year of soccer for the Wolves … a three-time All-District selection, including a pair of first-team honors as a junior and senior … a two-time All-Area honorable mention … named the team’s Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore and senior … named Academic All District in all four seasons … helped the team to a regional quarterfinal berth as a junior and a semifinal spot as a senior … a National Honor Society student and summa cum laude graduate.