Williamsburg, KY – In both of their games on Sunday, the UC softball team won by a score of 7-1. The two wins came over Rio Grande and Asbury giving UC a season record of 6-4 marking their best start through the first 10 games since 2016.

Emily Bryant led the offense going 4-7 over the course of two games with a double, triple and a pair of RBIs. Maddie Sickau also remains impressive at the plate hitting 3-6 and recording a triple and a home run giving her three RBIs on the day.

In the circle Talli Burgess and Kaci Goedde picked up their first starts of the year. Combined the two gave up just six hits and one run. Kaiti White, Paige Parker and Abby Whelan were all used in relief and kept up the play that Burgess and Goedde had limiting hitters to one hit and one run.
 
CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS RIO GRANDE, 7-1
The UC offense wasted no time and scored in the first inning, marking their third straight game of scoring in the initial inning. Emily Jasper was issued a walk to lead things off and Sickau made sure to get Jasper back across home plate, blasting a no doubt two-run home run over the left field fence.

In the bottom of the third inning with the Patriots up 2-0, Sickau was once again the one to get the run to score. Katie Cheeseman had a single up the middle, followed by a shot off the bat of Sickau down the right field line, giving her a triple, her first of the season.

The game would stay at 3-0, advantage Cumberlands, until the top of the fifth inning when the Red Storm scored a run off a walk and back-to-back singles. Burgess would finish her start after going 4.2 innings striking out two hitters and giving up a single run.

But UC would go again in the bottom of the sixth inning to push across four runs. Tori Malone ignited the offense with a single and two batters later Hailey Wood got on base from a walk to have two runners on with two outs. Madison Mills stepped in as a pinch hitter floating a ball to shallow left field scoring a run. A mishandled ball for the next at-bat scored two more Patriots giving them the 6-1 lead. The final run of the inning was sparked by back-to-back singles from Emily Bryant and Maddie Sickau to load the bases. Sarah West was patient at the plate, earning a walk and scoring a run to put UC up 7-1.

After White took over for Burgess in the fifth inning, she recorded only seven pitches to four batters, one of which was a strikeout. Then Parker was called on to close out the game in the top of the seventh. Despite issuing two walks in the inning Parker remained composed striking out the final batter to give Cumberlands the 7-1 victory.
 
CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS ASBURY, 7-1
Goedde looked ready and calm in her first start of the season, giving up no runs in six innings of work. Three of those innings were three up, three down for the Patriots' defense. Most impressively Goedde faced 21 batters and only gave up two hits against an offense that scored six runs against #11 Campbellsville. The six innings for her are the most in a single game for the Elizabethtown, KY native.

Goedde's success on the mound translated over to the hitters for Cumberlands. With Jasper on base in the third inning, Bryant hit a ball to the right fielder, that she mishandled. The speed of Jasper scored her to give UC the 1-0 advantage.

The next inning Madison Huber was issued a walk and had heads up base running to take second base as the catcher was still retrieving ball four from the backstop. Meryn Livingston hit a ball back up the middle scoring Huber. Jenna Howell replaced Livingston on the base paths right before Jasper sent the ball up the middle to score Howell with the Patriots going up 3-0.

The bottom of the fifth inning UC scored again started by a leadoff double from Bryant. Sickau followed that up with a walk and then a double steal put the two runners on second and third. Huber hit her second double of the game clearing the bases resulting in a 5-0 lead for Cumberlands.

Wood started the sixth inning with her third walk of the game followed by a Jasper double to put the two fastest UC runners in scoring position. The Eagles' defense thought they could throw Wood out at home off a grounder, but she slid in for the first run of the inning. With Jasper at third Bryant sent a ball to deep center that found herself at third for an RBI triple, the first triple of her career.

With the Patriots up 7-0, Whelan took the mound. She was unable to preserve the shutout, but limited the Asbury hitters to just one run and one hit for the Cumberlands 7-1 victory.

The two wins give UC an undefeated weekend at the Bear Creek Tournament and put the Pats on a four-game win streak. This marks the most consecutive wins the team has had since middle of March in 2019.

Cumberlands will stay at home for a doubleheader on Tuesday, February 23 against Tennessee Wesleyan. The first game starts at 3 PM and will have both live stats found here and live video here.
 
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