Bowling Green, KY - The top seeded Cumberlands Patriots took care of business against #2 seed Campbellsville to move on to the Mid-South Conference Championship game for the first time since 2017. UC took down the Tigers by a score of 4-2 to stay in the winner's bracket for the final day of the tournament.

Cumberlands had team offense today, with four different batters recording hits, led by Hailey Wood and Bailey Turnbow, each with two. Four different players scored today and three hitters tallied a RBI off the bats of Turnbow, Mackenzie Pawlak and Meryn Livingston. 

In the circle, Morgan Radford started and held CU to just two runs off four hits in 3.1 innings of work and striking out one hitter. Kaiti White came in relief and earned the win to improve to 12-2 on the season. White went 3.2 innings, limiting Campbellsville to a pair of hits and no runs while striking out two.

UC got on the scoreboard early, tallying two runs in the opening frame. Radford shutdown the Tigers in the top half with a flyout and two groundouts then let the bats of UC get to work. Carly Oliver legged out an infield single and then moved two bases after a hit by pitch and fielder's choice from her teammates. On third, the Campbellsville pitcher threw the ball over the catcher's head and Oliver was heads up on the base paths, sliding into home for the first run of the game. Mackenzie Keatts got to third after the wild pitch and a groundout. Turnbow stepped to the plate and roped the ball down the left field line to score Keatts and put the Pats up 2-0.

Radford had another three up, three down inning in the second and then the Tigers tied it up off two hits to make it 2-2. Then in the fourth frame, Campbellsville got two hits with one out and it brought in White to pitch. The first batter she saw shot a line drive back at her and she stayed composed to get the lead runner. She then struckout the final batter of the inning to leave two stranded. 

In the bottom half of the inning, Turnbow singled to start with a ball to left field. Wood followed that up with a double to left center to put them both in scoring position. Meryn Livingston came to the plate and put down a squeeze bunt and Turnbow slid into home safely to make it 3-2.

The Pats tacked on another run in the fifth inning to push the game out of reach. Maddie Sickau laced the ball to right center field and then back-to-back walks to Makenzie Keatts and Emily Bryant to load the bases. Pawlak sailed the ball to center field, scoring Sickau to give UC the 4-2 lead.

In the sixth, the Tigers got two runners, but the next ball was a grounder to Oliver at second who tagged the runner and fired to first for the double play. White then shut down the Tigers in the seventh inning, going three up, three down. She ended the game with her second K of the game to send the Pats to the MSC Championship game.

 

The final out was a strikeout from @KaitiWhite07 to send us to the 'ship! pic.twitter.com/vlXWyCBxgc

— UC Patriots SB (@Patriots_UC_SB) May 6, 2023

A spot in the championship game solidifies the Pats with an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round. CUmberlands is awaiting their opponent, it will be against the winner between Georgetown and Campbellsville. The championship game is set for 1PM ET at South Warren High School in Bowling Green, KY. Since Cumberlands is undefeated in the tournament their opponent must defeat them twice to win the championship. 

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