Williamsburg, KY – For the opening home series the Cumberlands Patriots took on the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs. Each team got a win for a series split, with the Bulldogs taking game one, 4-0 and then the Patriots bouncing back for a 7-6 game two win.

As a team, UC had 13 hits across the two games, with four different hitters racking up RBI. Maddie Sickau led all hitters with three hits while also tallying 2 RBI. Morgan Radford also added a pair of hits and two RBI, marking her first multi-hit and RBI game of her career.

As a pitching staff, Cumberlands recorded nine strikeouts led by Talli Burgess who fanned five batters. Abby Whelan got the win in game two, going 4.1 innings, giving up just one run.

GAME TWO: PATRIOTS DEFEAT THE BULLDOGS, 7-6
Tennessee Wesleyan got on the scoreboard in the first inning, jumping out to a 1-0 lead off back-to-back doubles. But Radford settled into the inning, getting the next two batters out.

The UC offense came out swinging to start the game, led by Katie Cheeseman recording a triple to left field, just the third of her career. Sickau earned her first RBI of the game lacing a ball back up the middle to score Cheeseman easily and tie the game. Sickau advanced to second and third off a wild pitch and passed ball respectively. Radford followed that up with a hit up the middle herself to score Sickau, marking Radford's first career hit and RBI as a Patriot.

The 2-1 lead for UC did not last long, since TWU answered back with a run in the top of the second inning. Two singles and a walk tied the score up at 2-2. However, the Bulldogs carried the scoring over to the third inning, picking up a trio of runs. A walk, triple, and single ended the day in the circle for Radford with the score at 4-2 in favor of TWU. Whelan entered the game, surrendering a run, but ending the inning with a strikeout looking to minimize the damage for a 5-2, Bulldogs lead.

The Patriots used a two out rally to score three runs for themselves. It started with Emily Jasper stealing second base and advancing to third off a Cheeseman single. Once again Sickau came through for UC, sending a ball to left field, bringing Jasper around to score. With runners on the corners, Emily Bryant bounced a one hopper to the left center fence, scoring both Cheeseman and Sickau to tie the game back up at 5-5.

The fifth frame was quiet for both teams and then in the sixth Paxton Hoop threw out the base runner trying to steal second base, igniting a big offensive inning for Cumberlands. Hailey Wood led off the inning with a single through the left side. A sacrifice bunt from Cheeseman pushed Wood to second and then Bryant earned a walk. With two runners on, Radford hit the ball to the outfield, scoring Wood. Hoop followed that up with her first career hit and RBI as a Patriot, singling to centerfield to score Bryant making the score 7-5.

Back-to-back walks to the Bulldogs brought Kaci Goedde to the circle. A wild pitch scored a run for TWU, but Goedde got the final out with a swinging strikeout, ending the game at 7-6 in favor of Cumberlands. Goedde's performance earned her the save in the contest.

GAME ONE: BULLDOGS SHUTOUT PATRIOTS, 4-0
Game one started slow for both teams, putting up three full innings of no runs. All three of those innings were, three up, three down for UC's defense and included a Kaiti White strikeout. However, in the fourth, two singles, a double and two errors gave the Bulldogs the 3-0 lead. When Burgess entered the inning, there was a runner on second base and just one out. She got out of the inning with two strikeouts.

The fifth inning also looked similar for Burgess. With a runner on base and one out, she struckout the final two batters, ensuring no more runs scored. She then got her final strikeout of the game in the sixth inning.

The Bulldogs tacked on one more run in the seventh from a home run to make it 4-0. Entering the bottom of the seventh inning, UC was still without a hit but had gotten three runners on from two walks and an error. Meryn Livingston broke up the no hitter with a single to the left side and moved Bryant to second who had gotten on from an error. However, UC could not move either of the runners any further for the 4-0 TWU win.

The series split gives UC a 3-2 record on the season and for the Bulldogs it was their first games of 2022 giving them a 1-1 record.

The Patriots will now get ready for hosting the three-day Bear Creek Tournament in Oneida, TN starting Friday, February 18. UC's first game is at 12PM against Huntington. Live stream will not be provided but live stats can be found here (XML).

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