BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The Lady Tigers battled against the University of the Cumberlands Patriots Saturday afternoon in the Mid-South Conference Championship Tournament. After Campbellsville lost that close match-up 4-2, they awaited Georgetown where they won 3-2, securing an automatic qualifier to the NAIA National Tournament and their spot in the MSC Tournament Championship.
After two straight wins advancing to the semifinals in the winner's bracket, the Lady Tigers ran up against the first-seeded Patriots. In their regular season series, Campbellsville's offense couldn't keep up with Cumberlands' hits, posting 12 of their own compared to the Patriots' 27.
GAME ONE: Campbellsville 2, Cumberlands 4
After seeing each of their first third returned to the dugout,
Courtney Patterson got the nod in the circle. The Patriots connected on two hits and brought the Lady Tigers to an early 2-0 deficit after one.
In the second inning, Campbellsville saw their middle third suffer the same fate as their first with three straight outs. Although Cumberlands led off with a double, the Lady Tigers cracked down on defense and secured three straight outs after.
Following an impressive defensive effort in the bottom of the second, the Campbellsville offense stepped up to the task in the new frame.
Brea Croslin walked just before
Ashby Murt posted their first hit of the game with her double.
Caroline Pitcock's single sent both Croslin and Murt in to knot the score at two's. Campbellsville's fielding matched the intensity as they forced Cumberlands three up, three down.
The Lady Tigers got hits three and four in the top of the fourth with
Morgan Carter's and
Madison Davis' singles. The Patriots then had a pitching change and closed that half of the frame. Cumberlands scored a run to take the lead back before back-to-back fly outs brought the game into the fifth inning.
There, Murt led off with a single, but three consecutive outs put Campbellsville back on the field. The Patriots kicked their offense off with a double before
Allison Bush relieved Patterson. With the bases loaded after two walks,
Emily Reynolds came in for Bush. After a pop-up out, a sacrifice fly made the score 4-2. However, on that same play, the Lady Tigers were able to run down a base runner to limit the damage.
Campbellsville had two on base with just one out to begin the sixth frame, but a double play ended their chance to tie it up or go ahead. The bottom of the sixth and the top of the seventh both saw just three batters as the game ended 4-2 for the Patriots.
Unlike their regular season games, the hit totals were equal for both squads. The only difference seemed to lie in the first batters' opportunities at the plate: the Lady Tigers' lead off batters were 1-7 (.143) while the Patriots' were 4-6 (.667). Davis and Murt both shared the team-high with two hits each.
Campbellsville watched as the #4 Georgetown Tigers defeated the #5 Cumberland Phoenix. The Lady Tigers then met the rival Tigers to see who would advance to the championships to take on Cumberlands. In their regular season series, Campbellsville won all three games handily. This was a different Georgetown team than they faced at the beginning of earlier in the spring, however, run ruling their two previous opponents in the MSC Tournament (Freed-Hardeman and Cumberland).
GAME TWO: Campbellsville 3, Georgetown 2
The Lady Tigers held the rival Tigers to just one hit in the first, retiring three of the four batters the defense saw. At-bat, Pitcock singled and
Payton Blades pushed her across home plate with her double for the first score of the contest. Again in the second frame, Campbellsville got all three outs on the first four Georgetown players to swing at the ball.
Kaeleigh Tuck recorded her first home run of her Lady Tiger career in their offensive second inning.
Into the third and despite logging a single, Campbellsville came up with a clutch double play so that they only had to face three players from Georgetown's offense. A line out to Hurst was thrown to Croslin who tagged up second and brought the Lady Tigers back to the plate. Pitcock was walked before Windell recorded a single. Carter was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. However, a line out stopped the opportunity to bust the game open.
In the top of the fourth with one out, two of the rival Tigers were on base at first and second. A double to right center quickly evened things as both runners on base came in to score. The next two batters were out after popping up and grounding out respectively, but the game was effectively back to 0-0. Tuck kept her hot streak going with a double before Croslin sent her further along to third with her sacrifice bunt. Hurst capitalized on the chance, singling through the left side and scoring Tuck to retake the advantage 3-2. When Pitcock kept the frame going with her own single, the rival Tigers brought in a new ace and got the final out.
Georgetown couldn't respond with more than a hit in the top of the fifth and then it was three up, three down for Campbellsville. Staring at two outs in the sixth, the rival Tigers mustered a single up the middle to keep their shot at swinging alive. However, that hope was short lived as
Katy Chadwell struck out the following batter. Tuck proved to be three-for-three when she singled to lead off for the Lady Tigers in the bottom of the sixth. Although Campbellsville would have runners on the corners after Hurst's own single, they would be left on base.
In the final frame, the first two batters were a foul fly and a pop-up. The third rival Tiger was walked but that would be it as the subsequent batter was another foul fly.
Campbellsville was 4-10 (.400) with runners on while greatly limiting Georgetown to just 1-14 (.071). The Lady Tigers were led by Tuck's 1.000 hitting percentage and Chadwell's .634 strike percentage.
With their MSC Championship appearance, Campbellsville secured an automatic qualifier to the NAIA National Tournament. The Lady Tigers will meet Cumberlands in the MSC Tournament Championship Sunday, May 6th at 1 p.m. ET.
