April 10, 2008 – CASSTOWN
The Covington Lady Buccs dropped a heartbreaker to Miami East in eleven innings as a Buccaneer error with a runner on third ended up being the winning run for the host Vikings.

"This game was ours for the taking," said Covington coach Dean Denlinger. "We just made some mistakes at the wrong time and to their credit they took advantage."

Two earlier fielding miscues by Covington in the bottom of the seventh erased a 2-0 lead and sent the game into extra innings.

"We had things going our way in the bottom of the seventh," Denlinger explained. "But we had two errors in that inning that resulted in runs."

Still, the errors were due to the kids giving maximum effort, which Denlinger can live with.

"Those errors were not due to a lack of effort by any means," he stated. "It was because the girls were trying to make a play and sometimes those things happen. Unfortunately for us, they came at the wrong time."

Covington drew first blood in the top of the fourth as Kristen Boggs singled to drive in Erin Christian after Christian singled and stole second base.

The Lady Buccs then increased the lead to 2-0 in the top of the sixth on another Boggs RBI. This time Jessica Snipes walked and Christian moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt. Boggs followed with a single to drive in Snipes.

"We had all the momentum," Denlinger said. "Jessica (Shrout) was pitching very well and we were able to manufacture a couple of runs. The kids were into it and we felt we had things going our way."

Shrout was on her game as she struck out 12 batters and allowed just five hits in eleven innings of action.

"Outstanding performance by Jessica," praised Denlinger. "She had everything working tonight."

But Miami East was able to stay in the game and put the potential winning run in the eleventh with a double that nearly cleared the center field fence.

Two batters later the game was decided as a Covington throwing error allowed the winning run to score from third.

"It's a shame someone had to lose this game," Denlinger stated. "This was a great high school softball game between two good teams. There was a tournament type crowd, which only added to the emotions of the game."

In spite of the loss, the experience of playing in a tournament type atmosphere will only help Covington down the line.

"A game like this only builds character," continued Denlinger. "A lot of the younger kids have never been in a game like this and the experience helps you face adversity. We can definitely build off of this game."

Covington drops to 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in the CCC. The Lady Buccs host National Trail tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting.

Scoring by Innings:
Covington ..........0...0...0...1...0...1...0...0...0...0...0 - 2 .. 8 .. 4
Miami East .........0...0...0...0...0...0...2...0...0...0...1 - 3 .. 5 .. 2