SIDNEY – The Covington Lady Buccs were fortunate to edge Lehman Catholic 6-5 to keep themselves in contention for a league title.
Things didn’t go well for the Lady Buccs as they nearly beat themselves with uncharacteristic mistakes on defense and at the plate. Covington committed four errors and also missed out on some additional opportunities to record outs. Plus, the Lady Buccs struggled executing at the plate with timely bunts in critical situations.
Both teams plated a run in the first and then Lehman took a 3-1 lead with two runs in the bottom of the third. Covington was fortunate that the Cavaliers didn’t score more runs in that inning. Three errors and a dropped ball on an attempted tag out at second allowed Lehman to score two runs and load the bases with no outs. Karyanne Turner was able to get the Lady Buccs out of the inning without further damage due to her solid pitching.
Covington closed the gap to 3-2 with a run in the top of the forth and then scored two more runs in the top of the sixth to take a narrow 4-3 lead.
Once again the Lady Buccs made some critical defensive mistakes in the bottom of the sixth that led to two more runs for Lehman to take a 5-4 lead with one inning to play.
The Lady Buccs responded in the top of the seventh. The biggest impact was a perfect bunt by Kamryn Barnes that scored Ava Hartwig from third and then another well executed bunt by Taylor Foutz that scored Karyanne Turner for the what turned out to be game-winning run.
That’s because Turner shut down the final three batters in order in the bottom of the seventh with help from the defense behind her. The first out came on a fly ball that was caught by Nell Rogers in right field and the second out came on a strikeout. The final out was a grounder to Kamryn Barnes at third, who threw to first.
Turner threw all seven innings to record the victory for the Lady Buccs. She also led Covington with three hits, all being doubles. Elizabeth Coblentz and Stevi Newhouse both had two hits and Jayda McClure recorded a huge triple.
Covington improves to 14-6 overall and 9-2 in the TRC. Next up is a huge showdown against Miami East on Monday at Covington High School.
