While she did walk four batters, George managed to keep the Lions off balance with a good combination of fastballs and change-ups. The Clippers’ ace was also able to get herself out of a few key jams to secure the triumph. The most crucial of those jams came in the top of the fifth. With runners on second and third and just one out for the Lions, George struck out Hannah Rounds and then forced leadoff Jess Borden to pop out to right-fielder Sarah Beauregard, who made a nice diving catch to end the threat. The Clippers then opened the floodgates in the sixth with four runs spurred by George’s double.  “I think I’ve always dealt well with pressure,” George said. “I think I actually do better in pressure situations. I just buckle down.  “I have been kind of struggling with hitting. It felt really well. To have this team pick me up, even after that, it was really big for us.” “When a team is putting the ball in play, it’s nice to have a strikeout pitcher,” said CHS coach Marty Crowley, whose squad improved to 8-4 for the season. “When push comes to shove, you know Jillian can bring it. I thought she pitched masterful. She did a nice job. She hit her corners. She probably pitched too many walks than we would have liked, but when she needed to get an out she got it.” The Lions got a solid effort on the mound from Borden, who yielded seven hits. Her performance was a bit deceiving because of the sixth inning, a frame in which Lincoln committed two errors that eventually led to a pair of unearned runs. For five innings and about 40 minutes, the talented junior and George were mired in a pitching duel. Lately, Borden has been a steady for the Lions (5-8), who had won three of their last four games entering Tuesday’s game. “(She’s) been out for a couple of weeks and came back last week and has just pitched fantastic,” LHS coach Jon Bruckner said. “She won a couple of great games for us last week. I thought she pitched terrific today. Our defense has been tremendous, too. I thought we turned the corner a little bit and Cumberland capitalized. They created a lot of opportunities for themselves and they came through. All the credit for their bats coming through.” Lincoln opened up the scoring in the first inning. Borden began the frame by hitting a single on the first pitch of the game. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and then was plated on a two-out single from Alyssa McCourt.  The Clippers evened the score in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Casey McDonald and Marissa Speroni hit back-to-back singles. After advancing to third on Speroni’s hit, McDonald tied the game at 1, scoring on a wild pitch.  Cumberland took a 2-1 lead in the second. Brittany Crawford began the inning with a leadoff single. She moved to third on a pair of consecutive groundouts from Lyndsay Martins and Beauregard and plated the Clippers’ second run when Ashley Note’s hard liner went off the mitt of Rounds at third. The Lions, who stranded eight baserunners, had a number of scoring opportunities that were thwarted by George and the Clippers’ defense. A prime chance occurred in the fourth, but a couple of fine defensive stabs by Speroni would end that threat. With teammate Megan Sylvestre on first after her leadoff walk, the Lions’ Colleen Moran blasted a hard grounder that Speroni made a diving stop and flicked to second for a near out. On the very next pitch, she covered first on Mel Ferreira’s sacrifice bunt, scooping up a low throw in the dirt from catcher Kara Solebello to get Ferreira out by a step. George fanned the next two batters to end the inning. “I think Marissa is one of the best out there,” Crowley said. “She made two huge plays. I don’t know what would happen to us if she didn’t make those plays.” A bunt single by Solebello and a base hit from Speroni would put runners on the bags for George in the sixth when she connected on her eventual game-winning double. Cumberland, which has four league games left on the slate, returns to action on Thursday at Warwick Veterans. “One through nine, the bats are starting to get together,” Crowley said. “We’ll need that if we are going to do anything this season.” Although it was a little bump in the road, Bruckner feels his squad is coming around with the regular season nearing its close. The Lions host Pilgrim this Thursday. “We got a lot of young kids playing,” he said. “They have really advanced. They have really matured. That was showing in last week’s wins. For six innings (today), they played a great game. Games like this are going to make them better. This division, you don’t have a lot of time. We’ll take another day at practice and come back again. That’s important at this point.”