ST. CATHARINE, Ky. – Krystal Cammuse tossed a two-hit shutout in the opener and Tiffany Wickline and Brittany McKee combined for another shutout in the second game, as St. Catharine College completed a four-game sweep over Cumberland, 6-0 and 4-0, here Saturday at Salt River Electric Field.

The Bulldogs (12-30, 8-18 Mid-South) outhit the Patriots, 8-7, in the second game but stranded eight baserunners, including two apiece in the third and sixth innings. Kassydi Montgomery and Tessa Tomaselli each collected two hits for Cumberland in the loss, but a three-run homer by Shelbi Thornhill in the first inning was all that the home team would need.

Wickline allowed eight hits and struck out one in six innings, working around baserunners in every inning but the second. McKee got the final three outs, though an error and a walk gave the Bulldogs a sliver of hope before a 4-6-3 doubleplay all but put an end to that possibility.

Kristen Abell (6-13) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on three hits in one-third of an inning. Crystal Bryant tossed the final 5.2 innings, giving up an unearned run on four hits with three strikeouts.

Cammuse (7-13) posted the victory for the Patriots (15-27, 11-15) in the opener, tossing a two-hit shutout. The righthander struck out nine in her second straight start against the Bulldogs and also walked two.

Leah Newsome (6-15) suffered the loss, giving up six runs on 11 hits in six innings. She did not walk a batter and struck out four.

The Patriots scored first in the opener despite not hitting a ball out of the infield.

Carly Benz struck out but reached with two outs on a wild pitch and then stole second. She took third on an infield single by Thornhill, a ball deep in the six-hole, and Cammuse followed with a looper in almost the same spot, allowing a run to score for an early SCC edge.

Kelsey Gravens led off the SCC third with a double down the rightfield line and Benz followed with a single to center and then a stolen base, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Thornhill singled to leftcenter, plating both runners, and took second when the throw back to the infield was wild.

Brittany McKee’s double to rightcenter scored Thornhill for a 4-0 Patriots advantage.

Brandi Hood reached on an infield single up the middle to start the fourth for SCC and Gravens belted a two-run homer to right two batters later, her seventh of the year, giving St. Catharine a 6-0 lead.

Cumberland had just five baserunners in the contest, with a walk to Tomaselli and a single by Sydney Broderick in the second, an infield single by Brianna Gregory and a walk to Kaleigh Pearce in the sixth and Jessica Roper was hit in the seventh. No runner got past second base in the game.

The Patriots jumped out early in the second game as well, with Wickline drawing a leadoff walk before a single by Gravens that hit off the leg of Abell and bounced into rightfield. After a sac bunt by Benz, Thornhill ripped her second home run of the series to leftcenter, a three-run shot, her eighth of the year.
Cammuse followed with a double to leftcenter, ending the day for Abell after just five batters.

St. Catharine got another run in the second when Gravens singled through the left side with two outs and Benz lined a ball into rightcenter that hit off the glove of Gregory. Gravens scored on the play for a 4-0 SCC advantage.

Cumberland’s best scoring chance in the contest came in the sixth inning when Tomaselli singled to right and with two outs Bryant singled up the middle. Pearce then singled to left and the throw back to the infield hit off the third baseman’s glove. Tomaselli got cut off third on the play and was tagged out to end the inning.

Cumberland begins play in the Mid-South Conference Championships on Thursday at Michael O. Buchanon Park in Bowling Green, Ky., at either Noon or 2 p.m. Central Time. Check www.GoCumberlandAthletics.com for opponent and game time later this weekend.