Oneida, TN – The Patriots remain perfect at the Bear Creek Tournament, picking up two more wins on the second day of action. Their first win came against (RV) Taylor, 11-4 for the Trojans first loss of the season and the second win was over IU at South Bend, 4-0.

Abby Whelan had a career day in the circle, not only did she earn her first seven inning game as a Patriot, but she also had the most strikeouts of her entire collegiate career, sitting down eight batters on strikes. Talli Burgess and Kaci Goedde combined in game one, striking out six and giving up just three earned runs.

Meryn Livingston continued her run at the plate for the tournament, she had three RBI off two doubles on the day, giving her eight RBI and four doubles in the four games. Mackenzie Pawlak chalked up her first home run in a Cumberlands jersey, off a three-run shot. Morgan Radford earned her second multi-RBI game of the season with two RBI against Taylor to give her six on the year.

GAME ONE: PATRIOTS DOWN THE TROJANS, 11-4
Taylor got on the scoreboard first, picking up a run in the first inning. They scored from a single, a pair of errors and a walk. Despite giving up the run, Burgess settled into the inning, putting away the final two outs down on strikes with bases loaded.

With TU up 1-0, Cumberlands wasted no time in finding their answer and then some, having their biggest offensive inning of the season in the bottom of the first frame. Emily Jasper got things going with a lead off single. Katie Cheeseman got on from a Taylor error to put two on for Maddie Sickau. For her fourth RBI of the season, Sickau doubled to center field, scoring Jasper. Another error by the Trojans pushed two more UC runs across to make it 3-1. Radford brought Sickau around to score, bringing the score to 4-1 and putting a pair of runners on base for Pawlak. The second homerun of the season, was sent to left centerfield by the Georgetown, KY native, scoring three runs to cap the seven-run inning.

UC added another run in the second inning to extend their lead to 8-1. Livingston roped a ball to left field with Emily Bryant on base, earning the RBI double.

Taylor had an answer in the top of the third, hitting their own three-run homerun to make the score 8-4.

Goedde entered the game in the third and showed off her defensive skills an inning later. Two batters hit the ball right back at Goedde, but she was up to the task both times.

Cumberlands got more insurance runs in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach for the Trojans. A single from Sickau and a walk to Bryant put two runners on for UC and brought up the lethal bat of Livingston. She stayed hot at the plate with a two-RBI double to right field. Taylor Green came on to run for Livingston and she was scored off a Radford single to left to make the UC lead, 11-4.

A three up, three down inning finished the game for the Patriots, with Goedde getting out #2 from a backwards K. Buirgess earned the win, for her first of the season.

GAME TWO: TITANS ARE SHUTOUT BY THE PATRIOTS, 4-0
From the very first batter of the game, Whelan was in control, striking out the lead off batter looking. The second inning, Whelan got two strikeouts, one of them looking and the other one fanning the batter for the final out of the frame.

After another strikeout from Whelan in the third, UC's offense got going to earn a slim lead. Jenna Howell ignited the bats with a leadoff single up the middle. Jasper moved her over to second with a single of her own and she was pushed to third after Sickau was hit by a pitch. Bryant was the next batter up and she made sure to bring Howell across the plate off the sacrifice fly to left field for the 1-0 Cumberlands' lead.

Whelan racked up four more strikeouts from the fourth-sixth, to keep the Titans off the basepaths, clinging to the one run lead. The Patriots then used the sixth to once again add a few more runs to their total. With runners at second and first, Pawlak singled up the middle for the RBI single. She passed the bat to Sarah West who singled to get the RBI. Howell brought around West from the RBI double to make the score 4-0 heading into the seventh inning.

Whelan gave up a lead off walk to start the inning, but it was immediately erased from a 6-4-3 double play. The final out was retired from a groundout to Bryant, securing the 4-0 win for UC to make their record 4-0 at the bear Creek Tournament over the first two days and 7-2 on the season.

Cumberlands will be back for the final day of the Bear Creek Tournament in Oneida, TN starting at 12PM. Their first contest will be against Cleary and then the Pats take on (RV) Rio Grande at 2:30 to close out the tournament. No video will be provided, but live stats will be available here.
 
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