Portsmouth, OH – With the game four win over Shawnee State, the Patriots become just the second team in the NAIA to win 40 wins this season. #24 UC joins elite company of #1 Southern Oregon as the only teams with 40 victories.

Cumberlands wins their fifth Mid-South Conference series of the season winning three of four against Shawnee State. After opening the series with a doubleheader sweep, the Patriots dropped game three 5-2 but then rebounded for the game four win by score of 5-2.

Emily Jasper led all hitters with a trio of hits in the final two games and also came around as a run scored. Both Jenna Howell and Hailey Wood blasted homeruns to centerfied accounting for over half of the RBIs in game four. Abby Whelan and Talli Burgess combined for the win limiting hitters to just four hits and one earned run.
 
GAME FOUR: CUMBERLANDS SECURES THE SERIES, 5-2
UC had two hits in the top of the first but could not push them across. Instead, the Bears took the lead in the first frame, off a hit and an error for the 1-0 advantage.

The Patriots tied the game in the third inning. On the 2-0 count, Wood sent the ball over the centerfield wall for her third homerun of the season. The next inning UC doubled their lead, started by a leadoff walk issued to Emily Bryant. She advanced to second from a wild pitch and then was moved to third off Meryn Livingston's single. Once again taking advantage of Shawnee State's miscues, Byrant scored from the wild pitch giving Cumberlands their first lead of the day, 2-1.

Whelan kept the Bears off the scoreboard for three innings after their run in the first. In the third inning she had a three up, three down inning including a strikeout.

Continuing to put runs on the scoreboard, UC scored a run in the fifth frame. The Patriots again made the Bears pay when they issued a walk. This time Wood got aboard form the walk and Katie Cheeseman roped a single to deep right centerfield, scoring Wood, for a 3-1 csoreline.

Shawnee State did plate another run in the fifth inning off a hit, a walk and a sacrifice fly.

With the score at 3-2, Cumberlands went on the attack once again, scoring in their fourth consecutive inning. Sarah West got on the bases from a single to center. Then Howell crushed a ball to centerfield, for her first homerun of the season. Her two-run shot made the score 5-2.

After throwing a seven inning no hitter on Friday, Burgess once again held the Bears hitless when she entered the game in the fifth inning. She struckout the side in the sixth frame and closed the game out with a three up, three down inning in the seventh.

GAME THREE: PATRIOTS FALL TO BEARS, 5-2
Shawnee State recorded runs in the first three innings of the game to take a 5-0 advantage. In those inningst hey had five hits with a pair of them being homeruns.

The Patriots only recorded three hits in the contest, two of them coming off the bat of Jasper. She broke up the no hitter in the fifth and then sparked the offense in the seventh to get UC a run. Her single to left was followed up by a double from Wood, giving her two extra base hits on the day. An error moved Wood to third and then she scored off a batted ball to make the score 5-2. However, UC's rally was halted in the next at-bat giving Shawnee State the win.

Cumberlands finishes the regular season with a Mid-South record of 21-9 securing them fourth place in the conference. The Patriots will host the first round of the MSC Tournament at the UC Softball Complex for a best of three game series. Their opponent and the dates of the games will be announced next week.
 
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