April 15, 2008 – COVINGTON
Covington coach Mitch Hirsch couldn't find it in himself to be disappointed in the effort of his team in a 4-3 loss to Tri-County North on Tuesday.

"This was a very well played game on both sides," said Hirsch. "Both teams had good pitching and made some great defensive plays. This was the type of game you hate to see anyone lose."

The game was filled with action as each team flexed its hitting muscle only to see the efforts turned away with breathtaking defensive plays.

For Covington, center fielder Logan Woloch had a busy day chasing down fly balls off the bats of Panther hitters - one being a diving catch in left-center in the second inning.

"Logan ran down a couple of balls I thought was trouble," Hirsch said. "If he doesn't get to even one of those, we may have been in trouble."

Perhaps the biggest defensive play by Covington came in the top of the seventh with the game tied at 3-3 and Tri-County North sitting with runners on second and third with two outs.

A line drive in the gap scored one, but Logan Woloch hit the Nate Lavey on the cut-off, who threw a dart to Adam Craft at the plate to pick off the second runner as he attempted to slide into home.

"If we don't make that play they break the game open right there," Hirsch explained. "It was a nice hit in the gap by them to score the run, but the play at the plate gave us a chance. Nate made a perfect throw and Adam did an outstanding job of blocking the plate."

Tri-County North also made its share of defensive plays, but none was bigger than the first batter in the bottom of the seventh.

Andy Sparks led off the inning for Covington and drilled a soaring shot towards center field. In what appeared to be a sure game-tying home run, the Panther's center fielder leaped above the fence to haul it in.

"That kid made a great catch," Hirsch said. "Andy got a hold of it and I was sure it was out when it left his bat. Somehow he was able to get above the fence and pull it in."

As amazing as the defenses were for both teams, the performances on the mound was just as impressive.

"Their pitcher did a great job of hitting his spots and mixing things up on us," praised Hirsch. "He didn't throw particularly hard, but he kept the ball down and kept us off balance. We just couldn't get dialed in."

David Moss pitched the distance for Covington and struck out 10 batters, while allowing just 2 walks.

The fact that Moss was able to even go impressed Hirsch, but to pitch so well had him amazed.

"He's been sick for like four or five days and he wasn't at school yesterday," Hirsch explained. "We didn't expect to get that many innings out of him, but he was so determined. For him to come out and throw like he did is unbelievable."

Adam Craft and Brent Shively came up big for Covington at the plate.

Craft went 3-for-3 with a double, while Shively doubled and drove in two runs.

Covington drops to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the CCC. The Buccs have a much needed day off before traveling to Twin Valley South on Thursday.

Scoring by Innings:
Tri-County North ........0...0...0...3...0...0...1 - 4 .. 7 .. 1
Covington ...................0...1...0...1...0...1...0 - 3 .. 5 .. 0