Williamsburg, KY – The fourth ranked Patriots dominated the Union Commonwealth Bulldogs on Wednesday evening, picking up a pair of 8-0 run rule victories in five innings. UC now move to 21-6 on the season and increase their winning streak to nine games.
The Pats were firing on all cylinders as the pitching staff only gave up a combined five hits while the offense tallied 24 hits through nine innings of play. Kaitlyn Schofield picked up the win in game one while Destry Lambert earned the first win of her Patriot career in game two. Schofield earned the complete game, striking out four and only allowing two hits. Lambert followed with a complete game of her own, allowing three hits while waiving five UCU batters.
At the plate, every UC starter recorded at least one hit with Amber Gainer leading the way after going 4-6 in the double header. She hit two doubles in the first game with three RBI's and picked up one more RBI in game two. Carly Oliver added a pair of RBI's in each game, going a combined 3-4 with two sacrifice flies. Maliyah Wilkins hit her seventh long ball of the season and doubled in game one. Jules Johnson went 2-2 in game two with a double and an RBI. Emma McDonald and Jade Gainer hit triples, while Logan Riley and Cloe Smith picked up their first hits of the season.
Pats Score in Every Inning to Win Game One
After striking out the first batter of the game, Schofield gave up one of her two hits on the day, but responded quickly with a grounder to short for a 643 double play to get out of the inning. A. Gainer led off the bottom of the first with a double down the left field line and advanced to third off an infield single from McDonald. Oliver then delivered a deep fly ball to score Gainer. McDonald stole second and moved to third off a fielder's choice. Bailey Turnbow followed with an RBI double to left center field to give UC a 2-0 lead after one.
Schofield struck out two of the three batters in the second to give her team the chance to extend their lead, and they did just that. Amber Atkins hit a leadoff single and advanced to second after another fielder's choice. Marquilla Howell singled to left right after to put runners on the corners and scored one batter later as A. Gainer smoked her second double of the game for two RBI's, doubling the Pats lead.
Another three-up-three-down inning from Schofield allowed UC to add another run after Wilkins doubled and moved to third, giving J. Gainer a chance to hit a sac fly to bring the score to 5-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Aniyah White led off the inning with a single to center but got forced out at second a batter later after a Howell ground ball. A. Gainer then earned her third hit of the game and another RBI as Howell scored from first to give the Pats another run. McDonald added a triple to score Gainer and scored off a single from Oliver to make it 8-0 UC. Schofield came back out and shut the Bulldogs down one, two, three as UC earned the five-inning run-rule win.
Pats Dominate UCU For Double Header Sweep
Destry Lambert started game two with a pair of grounders and a strike out to give UC the chance to early lead. Cumberlands carried over their success from the first game and scored five runs in the first to take a commanding lead. Oliver doubled down the left field line to score McDonald for the first run and scored one batter later as Wilkins smoked a homerun to right center field. Two batters later, J. Gainer tripled off the right centerfield wall and scored off a single from Johnson. The catcher then showed off her speed, scoring from first off a single from White to give UC their fifth run of the inning.
Neither team scored over the next two innings as Lambert picked up K's in the third and fourth innings. UC broke the scoreless streak in the bottom of the fourth as Howell led the inning off with a double to left center and scored from an A. Gainer single right after. Gainer swiped second for her 18th stolen base of the season and moved to third after a fly ball from McDonald. Oliver followed with a sac-fly to right to bring in Gainer from third, putting UC ahead 7-0.
After giving up a leadoff single, Lambert got three outs in a row to give UC a chance to walk the game off in the fifth inning. Johnson got the bottom half started with a double in the left center field gap. Logan Riley then stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter and laced a double to right center for her first hit as a Patriot, moving Johnson to third. Cloe Smith was then called in to pinch hit, and came up clutch, slapping the first pitch she saw to right field to score Johnson and win the game.
Cumberlands will return to MSC action on Friday as they take on #25 Campbellsville University at home in the Burg. Both teams enter the series undefeated in the conference as UC is 6-0 and CU is 3-0. First pitch for game one is set for 4 PM ET on Friday the 28th.
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