APRIL 6, 2016 - COVINGTON
Trailing 12-11 in the bottom of the seventh inning to Tri-Village the Covington Buccaneers had runners on first and third with one out and the top of the order coming to the plate when suddenly the clouds opened up with a heavy downpour of rain.
The game was called and Covington was forced to see a potential comeback win end officially as a 10-8 loss due to OHSAA rules stating the game reverts to the last completed inning when the contest is called due to weather or darkness.
"It really stinks because I'm pretty confident we would have won the game if we could have had five more minutes," said a dejected Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "We had runners at the corners with one out and (James) Grilliot was coming up. He was already three-for-four with a double and was making good contact on the ball all night."
But the Buccaneers can't blame anyone but themselves for being in the position they were in late in the game.
That's because Covington committed four errors, walked eight batters and gave up eight runs in the first four innings - five of those being unearned.
"They scored eight runs on just two hits in the first four innings because we just weren’t there," said Hirsch. "We did it to ourselves. We let this one get away."
Covington responded by scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score at 8-8, but Tri-Village scored two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 10-8 lead - which ended up being the final score as the Buccs were held scoreless in the bottom of the inning.
With dark clouds and high winds rolling in, the game went to the seventh and Tri-Village pushed its advantage to 12-8 with two more runs.
But Covington was able to get clutch hit after clutch hit in the bottom of the inning as it plated three runs and had runners at the corners when the game was called.
"It's very frustrating we couldn't finish it," Hirsch said. "Especially considering this was a league game, you'd want to see it played out until the end."
The loss drops Covington to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the CCC. The Buccs look to rebound tomorrow at home against Bethel.
SCORE BY INNINGS:
Tri-Village - 2 0 2 4 2 - 10 - 7 - 2
Covington - 0 3 1 4 0 0 - 8 - 7 - 4 |