Williamsburg, KY – A pair of wins for #21 Cumberlands over Thomas More wrapped up their four-game series. Both contests came down to the wire with 5-4 in 11 innings and 9-8 in seven innings marking victories for UC. With a win on Friday, the Patriots won the three of the four games to claim the series.

UC combined for 27 hits across the games with four extra base hits. Maddie Sickau led all hitters with six hits between the games today and had three RBIs and two extra base hits. Meryn Livingston had two RBIs and had the second best batting average between the two games at .571. Katie Cheeseman had the walk-off hit in game one scoring one of her five RBIs between the two games. Hailey Wood went a perfect 7-7 for stolen bases in the series and had 12 on the week bringing her season total to 32.

In the circle five pitchers saw action for the Patriots with Talli Burgess and Kaci Goedde getting the starts. Abby Whelan, Kaiti White and Lindsey Shope saw relief work helping UC get the two wins. They all combined for 14 strikeouts and limiting the Saints to under 20 hits.
 
GAME THREE: PATRIOTS WALK-OFF IN THE 11^TH INNING, 5-4
Burgess recorded four strikeouts through the first three innings of the game to keep the Saints off the board. Cumberlands would score the first run of the game in the fourth inning off an RBI single from Cheeseman to score Wood putting UC up 1-0.

Another run from either team did not come until the bottom of the sixth inning, once again with UC on the offensive side. Livingston led off with a single and was pinch ran for by Taylor Green. Acacia Gray and Madison Huber had back-to-back sacrifice bunts to put Green on third. Tori Malone scored Green with a double to left, making the score 2-0.

A leadoff walk and single to start things off in the seventh inning for the Saints brought Whelan in for relief pitching. In the inning, another walk and hit, as well as balls batted in play garnered four runs for the Saints to put them ahead 4-2, leaving UC just one frame to tie it up.

The Patriots rose to the challenge and pushed across those two runs sending the game to extra innings. Wood had a leadoff single and then stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Cheeseman brought Wood home off a single. Later in the inning, Livingston laid down the squeeze bunt that scored Cheeseman and got her to first base making the score 4-4.

Shope came into relief pitch in the top of the eighth and did not allow the Saints to plate another run, going four innings, limiting TMU to two hits and striking out three batters.

For the second time this year, a game at the UC Softball Complex would be decided in the 11^th inning. With the international tie breaker rule in effect, Paige Parker came into pinch run at second base. An error and an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Patriots with no outs.  Cheeseman stepped into the batter's box and sent a hard grounder back up the middle bringing Parker around to score and giving Cumberlands the 5-4 win.

UC is now 4-0 in extra inning games in conference play. Shope earned the win in the contest, marking her second of the season.

GAME FOUR: CUMBERLANDS SECURES THE SERIES, 9-8
The Patriots wasted no time in scoring, picking up two runs in their first inning at the plate. A walk to Wood, who then swiped second moved to third later in the inning was brought home off a single from Sickau. The score became 2-0 after Bryant hit a single to center, scoring Sickau from first.

Thomas More responded with two runs to tie it up in the top of the second inning. They got three hits to push the pair of runs across the plate.

Cumberlands scored in back-to-back innings after another lead off walk got things going, this time to Corinne Haverland. Wood and Emily Jasper got consecutive singles to load the bases. Sickau then launched her second triple of the season into deep right center field, clearing the bases and giving UC the 5-2 lead.

The fourth inning featured both teams scoring again. The Saints had four hits that plated two, making the score 5-4. In UC's half of the inning, they put up seven hits, kickstarted by a double from Wood. The team then recorded six consecutive singles, spraying the ball all over the field. Sickau and Bryant hit theirs to left field, Huber, Livingston, and Gray sent theirs to right for the 9-4 advantage.

With White entering the game in the fourth, she had a three-up, three-down inning in the fifth and then recorded two strikeouts in the sixth to keep Thomas More at bay.

The top of the seventh in both games became the most successful time at the plate for the Saints. Once again, they got four runs this time off three hits and two errors. They had the tying run on second but a fly out to center field ended the threat and the game, giving the Patriots the 9-8 victory.

Cumberlands now has a record of 33-13, marking the most for a team under Head Coach Bailey Dillender's four years at UC.

The Patriots will have their final home games starting on Friday, April 16 with a doubleheader against Pikeville. The first game is slated for 4 PM at the UC Softball Complex. Live stats can be found here and live video on the UCSN can be found here.

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