Williamsburg, KY – Cumberlands blanked the Union Bulldogs, 6-0 to claim their fifth shutout of the season and fifth straight victory. The Patriots improved to 10-1 on the season and Bulldogs dropped to 1-6.

The six runs came off the bats of five different hitters, led by Bailey Turnbow who brought in two. Carly Oliver, Makenzie Keatts and Maddie Sickau all had a pair of hits in the contest.

In the circle, Morgan Radford pitched 5.1 innings for her fourth win of the season. She tied her season best of five strikeouts and limited the Bulldogs to just three hits. Lindsey Shope made her third appearance in relief effort, pitching 1.2 innings. She faced four batters and did not give up a hit or a walk.

The top of the first had a double play, with Radford catching the ball and doubling up the runner at first. It would be the first of three doubles plays for Cumberlands in the game.

The Pats bats were rolling early, putting up six runs in the first inning. Hailey Wood led things off with a double down the left field line. Oliver hit the ball in almost the same spot to trade places with Wood for the RBI double. Then Keatts made it three doubles in a row bringing Oliver around to score. Emily Bryant walked and then Sickau got on from a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Turnbow sailed a ball to right field, deep enough to score Keatts from third for the sac fly. The next batter was Mackenzie Pawlak who drove a ball to deep center scoring Bryant easily. Paxton Hoop followed it up with a single through the left side scoring Sickau and making it a 5-0 lead.

The top of the third was all Radford, who recorded two strikeouts and a flyout to right field, not allowing a base runner on. The Cookeville, TN native followed it up with two more strikeouts in the fourth. The next inning the Bulldogs got a runner on from a bunt. But the next batter roped the ball to Bryant at third who caught it and threw to first base for the second Cumberlands double play.

Bryant got to lead off in the next half inning and blasted a ball to left center for a standup double. Two batters later, Turnbow singled to left center bringing Bryant around to make the score 6-0.

Radford began the sixth with her fifth strikeout then a single and a walk brought Shope into the game with just one out on the scoreboard. With the first batter she faced, Shope induced a groundout to Bryant, she stepped on third and fired to Turnbow at first for another double play.

The seventh inning was three up, three down for the Patriots solidifying the win at 6-0.

The Pats will now shift their focus to conference play facing off against Cumberland U. The Phoenix will travel to Williamsburg, KY on Thursday, February 23 for the first of the three-game series, starting at 4PM ET.
 
For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics. Please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.