Georgetown, KY – Cumberlands battled with Georgetown in the final two games of the series, both games coming down to the final inning to give UC the pair of wins. The first game the Patriots won 3-2 and then game two went into extra innings for the 8-6 UC win.

Maddie Sickau provided the late game heroics sending a two-run home run to left-center to edge out the Tigers 8-6 in the final contest. She then finished off Georgetown in the eighth inning with a double play, she touched on second and then fired over to first for the final out of the contest.

On the day, Sickau had three hits earning three RBIs. Meryn Livingston and Emily Bryant each picked up a pair of RBIs across the two games, both of them having extra base hits. Tori Malone and Hailey Wood led the team with four hits on the day with the duo coming across for five total runs.

In the circle, Kaiti White and Lindsey Shope earned the wins. White went 6.1 innings in game one giving up just one run off six hits and striking out two batters. Shope came into relief in game two and won the first game of her career. She struck out two batters in four innings of work and gave up three runs.

GAME ONE: PATRIOTS TAKE DOWN TIGERS, 3-2
UC got on the scoreboard first plating a run in the second inning. Malone led off with a single up the middle and she was moved to second off a sacrifice bunt from Corinne Haverland. A deep ball to left field off the bat of Livingston gave her a double and cleared Malone off the bases to give Patriots the 1-0 lead.

In the very next inning, the Patriots once again had a lead off single, this time from Wood who hit the ball to left field. Making it back-to-back innings for RBI doubles, Sickau sent the ball to center field to bring Wood home and double Cumberlands' lead, 2-0.

White held the Tigers scoreless through five innings where she gave up just three hits, struck out two and had a pair of three-up three-down innings. In the sixth inning the Tigers did get on the board. After a single to center, White exited the game bringing in Kaci Goedde. A stolen base and a single brought in a run to make the game 2-1.

With just the one run advantage, the Patriots needed some insurance runs to keep the Tigers at bay. Bryant delivered a solo shot to right field, her second opposite homer and sixth overall for the season.

The extra run from Bryant proved to be crucial since Georgetown plated another run to make it 3-2. With the tying run on third base, two outs, and White back in the game, she got the final hitter to ground out to Sickau at shortstop to win the game 3-2 for UC.

GAME TWO: CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS GEORGETOWN IN EXTRA INNINGS, 8-6
UC carried their offense into game two where they scored a pair of runs in the opening frame. Wood led off with a single that was followed by Katie Cheeseman's bunt single that pushed Wood to third. Cheeseman stole second to put two Patriots in scoring position and the heart of the lineup still to bat. Bryant batted a ball to the right side of the field allowing Wood to score. Then Malone got her second RBI of the day with a single past the second baseman to score Cheeseman for the 2-0 UC advantage.

Talli Burgess kept the Tigers' hitters off the bases through the first three innings. She struck out four batters in the first three frames and only gave up two hits. Then in the fourth, GC had three hits and a sacrifice fly to score two runs and tie the game at two each.

The Patriots answered back in the top of the fifth to retake the lead. Two errors off hard hit balls from UC scored Wood to make the score 3-2.

The fifth inning would also mark more runs for the Tigers to give them their first lead of the day. GC scored four runs off five hits. Despite four of the hits getting to the outfield, none of them were extra base hits due to the outfield play from Emily Jasper, Madison Huber and Wood.

Now down, 6-3, the Patriots fought back with a run of their own in the sixth. A lead off single from Haverland followed by a pinch-hit single from Acacia Gray got the offense going. Sarah West came into the game as a pinch hitter and recorded a single past the shortstop making the bases loaded for Cumberlands. A fielder's choice brought Haverland home to shorten Georgetown's lead to 6-4.

Shope entered the game in the fifth inning and once she settled in she kept the Tigers at bay for the rest of the contest. After the fifth inning, GC only recorded one more hit while the UC offense continued to roll.

Needing to score two runs to at least tie the game, the Patriots used team offense to extend the game. Sickau legged out an infield single and was moved to third off an error from GC and a single from Haverland. A fielder's choice once again worked in UC's favor as Sickau crossed home plate to cut the lead to 6-5. Huber then delivered the RBI single through the 5-6 hole to tie the game up and send the game to extra innings, marking the team's fourth extra inning game in conference play.

Wood led off UC's offense with an infield single. Wood then advanced to third off a sacrifice bunt from Cheeseman. Sickau sent a 3-1 pitch to deep left center field to record a two-run home run, her eighth four bagger of the season.

Cumberlands had the 8-6 lead, but Georgetown had a runner on first from a single. The Tigers would put another ball in play, but Sickau read the ball perfectly and stretched out her glove to save the ball from going into the outfield. She then carried her momentum to step on second base and throw the ball to first to close out the game and secure the second win of the day for UC.

With the final two games going to the Patriots, they split the four-game series with the Tigers. UC improves to 26-10 overall and a 7-5 conference record. Cumberlands is now 4-0 in extra inning MSC contests. UC also recorded zero errors across the two games compared to GC's four.

The Patriots will return to MSC play next weekend when they head to #12 Campbellsville for a four game series. It will open up on Friday, April 2 with game one starting at 2 PM. Live stats can be found here and live video can be found here.

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