Williamsburg, KY – The fourth-ranked Patriots defeated No. 25 Campbellsville University in five innings to take game one of the three-game MSC series Friday afternoon. UC scored 10 runs in five innings off 10 hits, to take the 10-2 win. They move to 22-6 on the season and 7-0 in Mid-South Conference play.
Lindsey Shope earned her 10
th win of the season with the complete game, giving up just four hits and two runs. At the plate,
Bailey Turnbow delivered a home run for her 100
th career RBI for the Pats.
Carly Oliver and
Maliyah Wilkins each went 2-3 with a double and two RBI's while
Jade Gainer added a hit and two runs batted in as well.
After a one, two, three inning from Shope the Pats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.
Amber Gainer made it happen after drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second to move into scoring position. The senior then stole third and took advantage of a throwing error from the catcher to score and give UC the early lead.
Shope delivered two more scoreless innings while Turnbow crushed a ball over the left field fence in the second to double the Pts lead. In the third,
Emma McDonald led off with a single to left and moved to third after Oliver drew a walk and the catcher made another throwing error. Wilkins then delivered an RBI single to right to score McDonald. Oliver then moved to third after a fielder's choice from Turnbow, and scored off another FC, this time from J. Gainer.
Amber Atkins reached on another CU miscue to put runners on the corners before
Aniyah White came through with a single to the opposite side to score Gainer and put the Pats ahead 5-0.
The fourth inning saw UC add three more runs to move into run-rule territory. McDonald drew a walk to start the rally and scored from first off a double from Oliver. Wilkins then followed with a double of her own to score Oliver and put Cumberlands up by seven.
Kaysee Dale entered to pinch run for Wilkins and scored UC's eighth run off a single from J. Gainer.
The Tigers earned their first two runs of the game in the fifth, but Shope fought to get out of the jam, stranding another CU runner on third to end the inning with a score of 8-2. Atkins got on to lead off the bottom of the fifth and was pinch ran for as
Abby Guinn entered the game. White then reached on CU's fifth error of the game to put runner son first and second. Marquilla Howell loaded the bases with a walk, and the Pats scored one batter later as
Amber Gainer was hit by a pitch to make the score 9-2. Oliver then delivered a walk-off single to score Howell to give the Pats the run-rule victory over #25 Campbellsville.
Cumberlands will look for their third straight MSC series win tomorrow as they will play the final two games of the three-game set with Campbellsville. First pitch is scheduled for 1 PM ET.
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