April 30, 2008 – COVINGTON
Tri-Village came to Covington tied for the conference lead with two other teams who also only has one loss in league play, Newton and Ansonia.

And the Covington Lady Buccs had a golden opportunity to do some serious damage to the Lady Patriot's title hopes.

With Tri-Village holding a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh, Covington finally got some offense going after being held without a hit over the previous six innings.

Kristen Boggs reached base on a walk and Emily Hicks moved her to second on a pinch hit sacrifice.

Chloe Shell connected for Covington's first hit to put runners on the corners.

Shelby Hoblit followed with a base hit to score Boggs and put runners at second and third for Covington.

But the one more big hit wouldn't come, leaving Covington coach Dean Denlinger wondering what might have been.

"One more base hit scores at least one, maybe two," Denlinger said. "But we shouldn't have been in that position. When you hold a team to two runs you should win the game."

Covington received solid pitching from senior Jessica Shrout, who returned to her first significant action since sitting out for nearly two weeks with an injury.

Shrout did surrender 10 hits on the day, but she went the distance and struck out five batters against a good hitting team.

"Jessica pitched real well coming back after a layoff," said Denlinger. "She got stronger as the game went on."

Unfortunately for Covington, the bats that tore it up over the weekend were non existent until the seventh inning.

Tri-Village pitcher Jordyn Fisherback was on her game and kept the Lady Buccs off balance with her power.

Covington couldn't catch up with her fast ball and the result was 14 strikeouts on the afternoon.

"She (Fisherback) pitched a real nice game," complimented Denlinger. "She basically threw two pitches, a fast ball and a curve ball. She just blew the ball right by us."

Although Fisherback brought some heat on her pitches, Denlinger felt his team missed some golden opportunities in the small game.

"We didn't execute very well putting a bat on the ball, even when we tried to slap, drag or bunt," Denlinger continued. "She didn't throw any off-speed stuff, so this was the perfect situation for us to execute in the small game. We just didn't get it done."

The loss drops Covington's record to 12-8 overall and 5-4 in the CCC.

With two straight losses against conference foes, Covington looks to get back on track on Friday at Ansonia.

Scoring by Innings:
Tri-Village ............1...0...0...0...0...1...0 - 2 .. 10 .. 1
Covington ............0...0...0...0...0...0...1 - 1 .. 2 .. 1