WEST MILTON – A relatively young Covington softball team faced a huge challenge on Thursday against a talented and experienced Milton-Union team, but was able to showcased the potential of being a very good team by defeating the Lady Bulldogs 14-6 under horrible weather conditions.
Entering the season, Milton-Union was projected as one of the premier teams in the TRC due to its outstanding coaching and experienced players returning from a team that finished 15-9 overall and 11–3 in the TRC a year ago – a team that split two games against Covington.
The challenge for Covington was off the chart – not only because the Lady Buccs were facing a very good team. What made it more challenging was the fact that the game was played at West Milton under weather conditions that were cold and windy. Plus, Covington had some players out of the lineup due to injuries.
Fortunately the Lady Buccs were well prepared mentally, which was obvious due to the way the entire team performed under adverse circumstances.
Both teams scored a run in the opening inning, but Covington broke the game open with six runs in the second and six runs in the third for a 13-2 lead.
Whitney Burns led off the third inning with a solo home run and after two straight outs the Lady Buccs plated five more runs to close out the inning.
The Lady Buccs then put another run on the board in the top of the fourth to push the advantage to 14-2.
Milton-Union didn’t relent and scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to prevent a run-rule by cutting the deficit to 14-5.
Covington wasn’t able to put any more runs on the board, but held off Milton-Union despite allowing one more run in the bottom of the sixth.
Whitney Burns picked up the win in the circle, which is her third win of the season in four games. She struck out six batters.
Covington pounded out 15 hits with Emalyn Johnson having a huge night by going 4-for-5 with a triple and two doubles. Whitney Burns connected on a home run on one of her two hits, while Kamryn Barnes, Ava Hartwig and Taylor Foutz all doubled.
Covington improves its record to 3-1 and 3-0 in the league. The Lady Buccs host Lehman tomorrow in another TRC matchup.
