MSC Standings

LEBANON, Tenn. -- The University of Pikeville softball team played to its third straight split of a Mid-South Conference doubleheader, losing to Cumberland 10-6 in game one, followed by a 7-3 win in the nightcap on Thursday at Lebanon High School.

The field on the Bulldogs campus was hit with a sudden rain storm, making for unsafe playing conditions, so a quick relocation to nearby Lebanon High School was the fix.

With the split, the race in the MSC Standings remained tight as both UPIKE and Cumberland are tied for fourth place with identical 8-12 league records. The teams will play two more games at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.

UPIKE secured its win by scoring four runs in the second inning, then holding on against a comeback-minded Cumberland team by adding two more runs in the fourth and another in the sixth.

It was 6-2 UPIKE heading into the sixth inning where each team scored a single run to get to the final 7-3 score. Kayla Brown paced UPIKE with two hits, including a double, while driving in a pair of runs and Hawley Ill chipped in with three hits and a sacrifice fly to drive in a run.

The Bears were busy on the base paths in the win as Brown, Ill, Brandi Jo Howard, Breana Pineda, Logan Cline and Sydney Beckelhymer all stole a base.

Sydney Morris grabbed the win in the circle (7-6) after allowing three runs on eight hits in seven innings with 13 strikeouts and one walk. Brown had the biggest hit of the game as she roped a double down the left-field line in the second inning to score the final two runs of a four-run frame with two outs.

The Bears weren't as lucky in game one as it was the Bulldogs who came away with a big early inning, taking a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Centerfielder Madison Gonzalez was the catalyst, belting a two-run home run in the middle of the frame.

Trailing 7-2, UPIKE added four runs in the fifth inning on four hits and one Bulldog error, but the one-run deficit was short lived as Cumberland scored two runs in the bottom of the inning and a single run in the sixth to hold off the Bears.

Pineda was good at the plate in the loss, finishing with two hits, including a home run or two RBIs, while Ill also tallied two hits and drove in a pair of runs.