April 24, 2008 – PITSBURG
It was a case of being satisfied in some aspects of the game and dissatisfied in others for Covington coach Dean Denlinger after his Lady Buccs captured a 7-5 victory over Franklin Monroe.

"I'm pleased with the way Chloe Shell came back from a sluggish start to pitch well in the final two-thirds of the seventh," said Denlinger. "But I'm not very pleased that we didn't close the door on them when we had the opportunity."

The pleasing part for Denlinger came after Shell struggled in the first inning as she allowed four hits and two runs.

"This is her third straight start and she was a little tired," Denlinger explained. "They (Franklin Monroe) were knocking the ball around pretty good, so we put in Kristen (Boggs) in the third. We brought Chloe back in the seventh and she pitched very well. She was a totally different pitcher out there when we brought her back in."

Although she was the starter, Shell picked up the save and Boggs, who entered the game in the third inning picked up the win.

Boggs only surrendered one hit in her four and one-third innings of work.

"Our pitchers have been banged up and Kristen hasn't been feeling the best," said Denlinger. "She did an outstanding job tonight."

What Denlinger wasn't pleased with was the eight runners left on base throughout the contest.

"We had runneers on in every inning, but didn't bring them in," he said. "We had our chances to break this game open, but didn't get the job done at the plate. We had three sacrifice opportunities and didn't come through."

This left Franklin Monroe an opportunity to steal the game in the seventh inning as it had the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate.

"If they get one hit we are in extra innings at best," Denlinger stated. "We should have never been in that position."

Fortunately, Shell was on top of her game in the final frame and picked up the save.

Covington was led at the by Erin Christian, who went two-for-two with an RBI.

A Kristen Boggs triple resulted in two RBI, while Jessica Snipes record three hits on four attempts with an RBI.

But the biggest hit for Covington came from Sarah Westfall, who broke a 4-4 tie with a two-run single in the fourth inning.

"That was a big hit by Sarah," Denlinger said. "It's one of the few times we were able to get a big hit with runners on."

Shelby Hoblit also had a nice night batting as she went two-for-three.

The victory improves Covington's record to 9-6 overall and 5-2 in the CCC.

The Lady Buccs travel to Fort Loramie tomorrow.

Scoring by Innings:
Covington ..................2...2...0...2...0...0...1 - 7 .. 13 .. 2
Franklin Monroe ..........2...0...2...0...0...0...1 - 5 .. 8 .. 2