Tigers play long ball in near upset of Patriots

After a brutal loss to start Sunday, Georgetown had to regroup for the finale with the hopes of building momentum towards the Mid-South Conference Tournament. The Tigers showed true grit and heart throughout the game but came up just short in a 7-5 loss to close the regular season.

Emma Cummings got the ball for the finale and was pressured from the start. Cumberlands began with a leadoff double and single to put runners at the corners. Cummings bounced back, allowing only a sacrifice fly to close the inning to limit the Patriots to 1 run.

Georgetown was tasked with going against the Patriots ace, Lindsey Shope. After a 1-2-3 first, the Tigers went to work in the bottom of the 2nd. With 2 outs, Alanna Pierce doubled to right center to keep the inning alive for Kady Dennis. After a lengthy at-bat that saw Dennis fight off multiple 2 strike pitches, the Tiger catcher got a fastball and barreled it over the left field fence for a 2-run home run. Her 2nd bomb of the season put the Tigers up 2-1 after 2.

Cumberlands came right back in the top of the 3rd. 2 straight hits started the inning against Cummings. With 1 out, a single to right brought the tying run home. The next batter laid down a squeeze bunt with the runner from 3rd barely beating the tag at the plate to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead. The Tigers bounced back as Cummings induced 2 straight pop-ups to negate further damage.

Georgetown got to Shope again in the bottom of the 4th. With 1 out, Addi Watson laced a single to center. Kinley Lucas stepped in and wasted no time. She took the first pitch from Shope and launched it out of the park to dead center to put Georgetown back on top, 4-3. The home run also marked the first time all year that any team had scored more than 3 runs on Shope.

The see-saw battle continued to the 5th. Cumberlands drew a leadoff walk. A steal of 2nd then set up an RBI double down the left field line to tie the game at 4. Emma Cummings continued to stay strong in the circle as she got back-to-back fly outs to end the inning. Georgetown was not finished with Shope. With 2 out in the bottom of the 5th, it was Stevie Shepherd's turn to flex her muscle. Another home run off Shope gave the Tigers the lead again, 5-4, with eyes on handing Cumberlands its first MSC loss.

The Patriots had other ideas. They started the top of the 6th with a single. Cummings got the next 2 outs but could not get the 3rd. A double and single followed with 2 runs scoring in the process to give the Patriots a 6-5 lead. At this point, Addi Watson was called on to relive Cummings in the circle. Watson got a groundball to end the inning. Georgetown had a chance in the 6th to take the lead right back. With 1 out, Watson reached on an error. She moved to 2nd as Kinley Lucas worked a walk. Alanna Pierce lofted a fly ball to right that was deep enough to move Watson to 3rd. Lucas stole 2nd as Kady Dennis was at the plate. It was not meant to be as Dennis was called out on strikes to end the threat.

Cumberlands tacked on another run in the top of the 7th for a 7-5 lead. Georgetown tried for another rally in the bottom of the inning. Haylee Stansbury shot a ball over first base for a leadoff single. Kaytlyn Spickard came on to run at 1st. Lilli Koch then hit a sharp grounder at 3rd that the Patriots turned into a 5-4-3 double play that took the wind out of Georgetown's sails. Stevie Shepherd drew a walk to keep the hope alive, but Addisyn Kelly lined out to 3rd to end the game.