Columbus, GA - In the program's first ever NAIA World Series game, #3 Cumberlands had to come from behind to take down #6 Science and Arts (OK) to claim the win. UC defeated the Drovers 2-1 in just one hour and seven minutes. 

After giving up three hits and one run, Talli Burgess was lights out in the circle. The Crandall, GA native retired 18 straight batters to close out the game. She did not give up a walk in the contest and struckout two in 23 batters faced off 69 pitches. It marked the fifth time all season the Drovers were limited to three hits or less. USAO was on a 13-game winning streak before they faced the Pats and was averaging 6.93 runs per game. The win for Burgess is her 20th of the season.

UC outhit the Drovers, 6-3 with Carly Oliver, Morgan Radford and Makenzie Keatts all picking up two hits in the game. Oliver used both of her hits as doubles, while Radford had one double. 

USAO got on the board first, in the beginning of the game. They scored their lone run, off a double down the right field line. The Drovers tried to get another run across, but Oliver picked up the ball and fired it to Meryn Livingston at the plate to tag the runner out and end the inning.

That double would be the last time a USAO player would reach base, with Burgess and the UC defense retiring the next 18 batters. Burgess led the top of the second off with a strikeout, then a groundout and popout that did not leave the infield.

Through the first two innings, UC only got one runner aboard and then they came alive in the third frame. Radford roped the ball over the left fielder's head and then raced all the way around to third base to be just 60 feet away from tying the game. Next batter up was Oliver who launched the first ball she saw into left center, scoring Radford and allowing Oliver to be standing on second. Now with two outs on the board in stepped Keatts, who laced the ball to left center field, scoring Oliver for the go ahead run.

 

The RBI from Keatts made it a 2-1 lead for UC and that was all Burgess needed to shut down the Drovers for the rest of the contest. Hailey Wood made two diving plays in centerfield to rob base hits, including in the sixth inning when she took away a ball that had eyes for the grass in left center, that Wood swooped in and grabbed.

In the seventh, a flyout, a popout and a lineout sealed the deal for Cumberlands marking the first World Series win in program history and giving UC their 48th win of the season to make them 48-3-1 on the year.

Cumberlands will next await their opponent where they will face the winner of #2 Our Lady of the Lakes and #7 Marian who will play tomorrow, May 26. UC will then play the winner on Saturday, May 27 at 7PM ET.

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