Williamsburg, KY – The Patriots made it a four games series sweep over the Cleary Cougars after taking both games on Sunday at the UC Softball Complex. Six players for Cumberlands hit over .400 on the day helping to defeat CU, 10-3 and 5-2.

The Pats extended their win streak to 16 and are now 18-4 marking their best start through 22 games in program history.

Maddie Sickau knocked in four RBI off two hits, one of which was a two-run home run. Emily Bryant also sent a ball over the fence which gave her one of her three RBI across the pair of games. Madison Huber and Tori Malone notched two doubles to account for eight of UC's 40 total bases.

Four pitchers from UC's staff saw action through the 14 innings. Paige Parker and Lindsey Shope both picked up their first starts of the season. Combined they hurled seven innings giving up three earned runs and striking out three. Talli Burgess and Kaiti White each earned a save to bring both of their season totals to three saves, a team best.

CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS CLEARY, 10-3
Parker recorded two strikeouts in the first inning and then the offense got to work. Emily Jasper led things off with a single and was moved over to third base from aggressive baserunning and Katie Cheeseman's sacrifice bunt. Bryant then recoded the first RBI of the day off a fielder's choice to shortstop.

A 1-6-3 double play on defense helped ignite the Cumberlands offense to have back-to-back innings of tallying a run. Huber sent a ball to left field to give her a double  that was followed up by a double off the bat from Malone to extend the lead to 2-0.

UC then picked up where they left off in the third inning. Jasper and Cheeseman started things off with consecutive singles to put runners on the corners. Bryant picked up another RBI off a sacrifice fly to center field. Sickau sent her team best sixth home run of the year to left-center to put the Patriots up 5-0.

The next half inning, the Cougars scored three runs off a pair of hits and three errors, but UC found their own answer to get two of the runs back. Hailey Wood got a single to center and then went to second from a stolen base. Jasper came through with a single to score Wood. Jasper moved to third base from a swiped bag of her own and a batted ball. Sarah West notched her third RBI of the season from a single to center extending UC's lead, 7-3.

After Burgess came into the game in the fifth inning, she shutdown the Cougars' offense. She recorded five K's and gave up not hits and no free passes.

Cumberlands then pushed the game out of reach off three doubles in the sixth inning. Bryant doubled to left field and was able to score off Sickau's base hit. Huber and Malone once again had back-to-back doubles to plate two more runs for UC bringing the final score to 10-3.

CUMBERLANDS COMES BACK AGAINST CLEARY, 5-2
The Cougars took the lead for the first time in the series getting a run in the second inning from an RBI triple and subsequently shut out the Patriots' bats through three innings.

Then in the bottom of the fourth inning, on the first pitch she saw, Bryant launched a ball over the right field fence tying the game, 1-1. The freshman's home run is the first one sent to right for UC this season and extends the team's home run count to ten straight games.

Shope pitched the first three innings, giving up four hits and a run. Goedde then came in for middle relief limiting the Cougars to a hit and a run over two innings.

Cleary retook the lead in the fifth inning off another RBI triple, but once again UC had the answer and got their own lead in the game. Wood and Jasper led the inning off with singles. Cheeseman hit a ball over the right fielder's head and cleared the bases with a triple. The Patriots now had the lead, 3-2.

White entered the game in the top of the sixth inning and only allowed one hit from seven batters faced.

UC got some insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning. A walk for Huber and Acacia Gray getting on from a fielder's choice put runners on the corners. Wood then doubled to left field to bring home both base runners and gave UC their fourth win over Cleary, 5-2.

SERIES REVIEW
Over the course of the four games, Cumberlands outscored Cleary 28-7. UC had 18 extra base hits including four home runs and 12 doubles. Bryant, Wood, and Jasper hit over .500 in the series and accounted for 11 RBI.

In the circle, the Pats struck out 20 batters and only gave up three extra base hits. The staff had a 1.56 ERA for the four games and only walked three batters.

UP NEXT
Cumberlands will close out their 18-game home stand with a doubleheader against #10 Georgia Gwinnett on Tuesday, March 9. The first game will start at 4 pm with lives stats available here and the live video will be on the UC Sports Network here.

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