Williamsburg, KY - For the first time in program history the #3 UC softball team clinched the Mid-South Conference Regular Season Championship with their two wins over Pikeville. The pair of wins improve UC to 18-0 in conference play and 39-3 overall. First the Patriots defeated the Bears 3-1 and then beat UPike 8-0 in just five innings.

UC outhit Pikeville 20-8 and outscored them 11-1. Of the 20 hits, Cumberlands roped seven for extra bases without giving up an extra base knock. Mackenzie Keatts led the team with four hits and Morgan Radford with three, they combined for three extra base hits together. Mackenzie Pawlak led the team with three RBI.

In the circle, Kaiti White got the start in game one, going 5.1 innings, giving up one run, six hits and striking out one to get her 11th win of the season. Talli Burgess came into relief, picking up her fourth save of the season. She struckout two batters to give her 101 on the season, marking the first time she has hit the century mark in a single season of her career. Morgan Radford went the whole five innings in game two, for her fifth complete game of the season and is now 13-1 on the year.

GAME ONE: CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS PIKEVILLE, 3-1

UC started with a three up, three down inning on defense, ending with White's first K of the game. She then got the next three hitters in the second inning to put away six straight. The Bears then got on the board in the third off three hits, to go up 1-0. 

The lead was short lived as UC tallied a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. Maddie Sickau kicked it off with a single through the 5-6 hole and Keatts followed it up with the same hit to put a pair on. Then Emily Bryant advanced them both off a sac bunt to put them both in scoring position. Pawlak placed the ball into right field, scoring both Sickau and Keatts for the Pats to go up 2-1. 

The Bears loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, putting Burgess into the game. She struckout the first batter she faced and then induced a flyout to center.

UC added an insurance run in the sixth. With two outs Radford singled up the middle and then got moved to third off a double down the left field line from Carly Oliver. Then, with Radford on third, a passed ball allowed her to score making it a 3-1 ballgame heading into the final inning.

Burgess got three straight outs in the top of the seventh including her second strikeout of the game to clinch the 3-1 victory.

 

GAME TWO: THE PATRIOTS RUN-RULE THE BEARS, 8-0

After a three up, three down inning in the first, including a Radford strikeout, the UC offense got going. With two outs on the board, Keatts launched her team leading, eighth home run of the year to make it 1-0. The bats did not stop there. Bryant legged out an infield single, then stole second. Turnbow then singled up the middle to score Bryant. Turnbow swiped her own base and Pawlak kept it going with a RBI single of her own to make it a 3-0 lead. Pawlak then swiped second herself to make it three stolen bases in the frame.

Radford tallied another strikeout in the second, and the bats came alive for the UC offense in the bottom frame. Paxton Hoop led off the inning with a single and was advanced to second off a sac bunt from Radford. Then stepped in Oliver who blasted the ball to left center over the fence, driving in two runs. Her homer made it 5-0.

Once again a Radford strikeout in the circle it turned to offense for UC. Pawlak earned a walk and advanced to second in the next at bat. Hoop roped the ball to left field for the RBI double. Radford traded places with Hoop, earning her own RBI double, off the hit to right center. The two runs made the score 7-0.

In the fourth, not only did Radford earn a K, but a Bears runner tried to steal second, but the the throw from Hoop to Sickau hosed the runner to end the inning. Again it propelled the UC offense. Keatts started the inning off with a single up the middle then stole second. Turnbow then singled up the middle to score Keatts and initiate the run-rule at 8-0.

The Bears went down in order capped by a Radford strikeout to give UC their first ever MSC Regular Season Title. The shutout is the 12th of the season for Cumberlands and the 11th run-rule of the season for UC.

 

Head Coach Dillender not only won her first title as a Head Coach in just six years, but she becomes the first softball player in MSC history to win the Regular Season Title as both a player and coach, having won in 2009.

 

Before the games, the team recognized their seven seniors in Sickau, Meryn Livingston, Hailey Wood, White, Hoop, Pawlak and Taylor Green.

 

Cumberlands will take on Pikeville for the series finale tomorrow, Saturday April 22. The game is slated for a 1PM ET start.

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