Crestview Hills, KY – Cumberlands extended their Mid-South Conference win streak to seven, after defeating Thomas More twice to open the series. In game one, UC got the 3-2 win and then game two was a 10-0, five inning run-rule.

Emily Bryant rattled off a pair of home runs on the day, extending her team best to six on the year. Paxton Hoop led all hitters, with four hits, going 3-4 in game one. Mackenzie Pawlak had a trio of hits including two doubles. Hailey Wood also had two doubles on the day and she combined with Emily Jasper and Pawlak for 10 stolen bases in 12 innings. As a team, UC had 16 hits with half of them being for extra bases.

Kaiti White and Morgan Radford each won for UC in the circle. For Radford she got the complete game shutout for game two, striking out her second most hitters on the season at six. White combined with Talli Burgess in game one, giving up just two runs while striking out three.

Defensively, the Patriots combined for a total of four double plays across the two games to keep the Saints from adding more than their two runs on the day.

CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS THOMAS MORE, 3-2
The Patriots opened the game not only with two walks to put Wood and Jasper on, but before an out was recorded by the Saints, the two speedsters combined for three stolen bases. However, UC left both of them stranded in scoring position.

White kept the Saints at bay through the first two innings. She even ended the second frame with a groundout to Katie Cheeseman at second that resulted in a 6-4-3 double play. TMU did get on the scoreboard first in the third frame off a double and two singles for the 1-0 lead.

The Patriots were not down long after they took the lead in the next half inning. To lead off the frame Bryant, launched the ball to right center field for a homer, tying up the contest. After the Saints recorded two outs in the inning, Hoop singled, notching her second hit in the game. Malone followed that up with a single and then for the third straight hitter, Pawlak singled, bringing Hoop around for the 2-1 lead.

The offense for UC carried over into the fifth, led by a Maddie Sickau walk. Two batters later, Cheeseman doubled to the wall, putting runners on second and third. Livingston followed it up with a walk, loading the bases full of Patriots. Hoop was once again a catalyst for UC, singling for the RBI to extend the lead to 3-1.

The final run of the game came in the sixth inning, with the Saints getting a leadoff home run of their own, pulling the game within one. Burgess entered the contest and put down the first three batters she saw, capped by a strikeout.

In the seventh, the Saints got a leadoff walk, putting the winning run at the plate. TMU tried to get a sacrifice bunt down, but it was popped up to Bryant at third. She caught the bunt and fired to Cheeseman who was covering first to complete the double play. Burgess struck out the final batter to secure the win for UC and earn herself her third save of the season.
 
PATRIOTS RUN-RULE THE SAINTS, 10-0
Radford was dealing from the start picking up two K's in the first inning and once again good defense led to offense for the Patriots who scored four in the top of the second. After Hoop was hit by a pitch, Tori Malone dropped the ball in front of the centerfielder for two runners on for Pawlak. The Georgetown, KY native sent her first double of the day to deep left field, allowing Hoop to score and Malone to move to third. For the third hit of the inning and the second straight double, Wood found the gap in right center field scoring Pawlak. Wood swiped third in the next at bat and the Saints tried to throw her out, but she slid in safely and an errant throw allowed her slide into home safely for the 4-0 UC advantage.

The Saints looked to get some offense going in the bottom second, getting a runner to third base, Radford was too good and kept the shutout alive, striking out the final two batters of the inning.

TMU walked Bryant in the third inning and it proved to turn into a run two batters later. After a wild pitch and a single from Cheeseman, Bryant was standing on third. Livingston hit a grounder looking for the 5-6 hole, but the third baseman stopped it.
Bryant took off from third and found herself in a pickle. The pitcher looked like she was going to tag Bryant, but the Cecilia, KY native juked and spun around the pitcher, diving into home to beat the throw. She was ruled safe pushing the lead to 5-0.

The Saints once again thought they could get a run across to breakup the shutout. With runners on second and third, TMU sent a fly ball to right field that looked deep enough for a sac fly. When Pawlak caught it, she fired the perfect ball to Hoop at the plate, gunning down the runner to end the frame.

Both teams had a quiet fourth frame, the Saints were silenced from another 4-6-3 double play. In true theme from the day, UC turned defense into offense. Bryant rocked her second home run of the day to left field, denting the scoreboard. UC reset the offense, putting Cheeseman on base from getting hit by a pitch and the Hoop singled for runners on the corners. Cheeseman scored off a fielder's choice. Then the Patriots issued back-to-back doubles from Pawlak and Wood for two more runs. Wood swiped third and Jasper was aboard from a walk. Jasper took off for second and they tried to throw her out, they were unable to and it allowed Wood to come home and score for the 10-0 lead.

With the run-rule in effect, since UC was up by at least eight, the Saints were looking to prolong the game. They got the bases loaded, but Radford struck out her sixth batter in the game to secure her ninth win of the season.

The pair of wins gives UC a 25-11 overall record and 12-4 MSC record. UC now has eight shutouts and their third run-rule victory in 2022. The two teams will be back for the final two games of the series, starting at 12 PM ET.
Live video for the games can be found here with live stats here.

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