McKenzie, TN - To start their series against the Bethel Wildcats, the #3 Cumberlands Patriots completed a seven run comeback in extra innings for the 14-9 win and then battled for the 8-4 victory in game two. With game three being canceled, UC finishes the 2023 Mid-South Conference season undefeated at 21-0 and as the MSC Regular Season Champions. Cumberlands becomes the first team in MSC history to go undefeated in regular season conference play and the regular season title is the first in UC program history. Cumberlands is now 42-3 overall for the most wins under Coach Dillender in her career, passing the 41 wins the team had in 2021.
At the plate, UC recorded 22 RBI from eight different hitters. Makenzie Keatts led the team with five, followed by Carly Oliver and Morgan Radford who tallied four. Hailey Wood led all hitters with five hits while Keatts and Oliver each had four.
In the circle, Kaiti White and Talli Burgess combined in game one and Radford pitched a complete game in the second contest. White got the start, going 1.1 innings giving up five runs off six hits. Burgess pitched the most innings of her career in 10.2, striking out eight batters, surrendering five hits and giving up just one earned run. In the second game, Radford went the distance, striking out five batters, giving up just four hits and one earned run.
GAME ONE: CUMBERLANDS COMES BACK AGAINST WILDCATS, 19-4 (12 INN)
For the first time all season, UC found themselves in a large early deficit. The Wildcats erupted for seven runs across the first two innings, recording eight hits in the two frames.
In the first three innings, the game was 7-0 in favor of Bethel, but the Patriots never wavered. In the fourth inning, the game opened up for Cumberlands. With one out, Mackenzie Pawlak scorched the ball to right centerfield for the standup double. Wood got on base as the next batter, then Meryn Livingston stepped to the plate. Livingston sailed the ball into left field for the single, then the ball got past the left fielder, which allowed both Pawlak and Wood to score for UC's first runs of the game. But the runs did not stop there. Oliver laced the ball to right field for the opposite field triple, bringing in Taylor Green, as the pinch runner. Maddie Sickau next got on base after getting hit by a pitch. With runners on the corners, Keatts drilled the ball to the left field fence for the double, scoring both Oliver and Sickau to cap UC's five run inning.
While Burgess kept the Wildcats at bay, earning three strikeouts through the five inning, the offense got to work again, down 7-5. It was once again a double that started the Pats, this time a leadoff double from Radford in the sixth. The Wildcats got two quick outs, needing just one more to send UC back to the dugout empty handed. But in true Keatts fashion, she had a shot to right field, scoring Radford and she raced around to be at third base as the tying run. Emily Bryant came to the plate and lofted the ball to right field, scoring Keatts to make it a 7-7 game.
In the bottom of the sixth, Bethel got their own leadoff double, but Burgess issued a flyout, lineout and then a strikeout to not allow the runner to move off second. Then both teams went down in order in the seventh to push the game to extra innings.
In the ninth inning, Burgess struckout the first batter she saw, tallying her 300th career K, and becoming just the fourth UC pitcher to hit the mark.
Neither team could push across a run through nine innings, initiating the international tie breaker which puts a runner on second. With Wood on second, Livingston got the bunt down, moving her to third. Radford singled, bringing in Wood for UC's first lead of the game. Then the Wildcats retied the game off a sac bunt and a sac fly.
With the score at 8-8 in the 11th inning, Sickau was on second. Bethel earned two outs and Sickau had not moved up a base. Then Bailey Turnbow stepped to the dish, dropping the ball into right field allowing Sickau to score. But once again, the Wildcats scored their runner to make it 9-9.
The 12th frame rolled around, with Pawlak at second and Wood at the plate. Wood squared around for the bunt, but her speed was too much, allowing her to be safe at first. Pawlak went first to third and Wood was heads up on the bases to have them both in scoring position and no outs. Livingston next hit a hard shot to the shortstop that was too much, loading the bases. Radford drove the ball up the middle, scoring both Pawlak and Wood and putting two runners in scoring position. With the pass the bat mentality, Oliver got a single herself scoring Livingston. With Radford at third, Sickau put down the squeeze bunt, but the Wildcats could not get Radford or Sickau out, putting another run on the board. The Pats got one more run on the board, after Bryant hit the ball hard and Bethel could not make a play for the 14-9 UC lead.
In the bottom of the 12th, the Bethel offense went down in order, marking one of the biggest comebacks in UC history. The team went down 7-0 and then scored eight unanswered before taking it 14-9.
GAME TWO: UC DEFEATS BU, 8-4
The second contest was a different story for UC. They got the early lead, with Oliver starting the whole game off with a leadoff double. Sickau was hit by a pitch putting two runners on and they both moved up 60 feet off a wild pitch. Keatts grounded out, but it allowed Oliver to score for the 1-0 lead. Then with Sickau at third, Bryant hit the ball deep enough to left field for the sac fly to make it 2-0.
The Wildcats went down in order to start the game and the Pats got going again. Back-to-back base hits from Pawlak and Wood began the inning. Paxton Hoop put down the bunt to advance both into scoring position. Radford sent a ball to centerfield for the sac fly allowing Pawlak to score. Oliver then legged out an infield single, pushing Wood across for the 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, Radford sent a pair of hitters down on strikes and then in the third she issued three groundouts. However, a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, gave Bethel their first run to make it a 4-1 game. The Wildcats kept the momentum in the fifth, racking up three runs off two hits to tie the game up at 4-4.
Pawlak had another timely hit in the sixth, leading off the inning with a single. Wood pushed her to third off a double, moving them both in scoring position. The squeeze was on and Hoop got the bunt down and no outs were recorded, scoring Pawlak and Wood for the lead. Taylor Green came in to run for Hoop and she scored off a sac fly from Oliver to centerfield. Sickau restarted the offense with a single to center and then raced around to third off an error. Then Keatts dropped the ball into left field to score Sickau. The RBI for Keatts is her 52nd of the season, passing both Sickau and Bethany Davis for most RBI in a single season.
With the 8-4 lead, Radford did not allow another base runner from the Wildcats. In the seventh inning, Radford struckout the side, with the last two looking to solidify the series win.
Ther final game of the regular season has been rained out. Cumberlands earns the #1 seed in the MSC and play on Friday, May 5 at 2:30PM ET at South Warren High School in the MSC Quarterfinals.
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