April 8, 2009 - COVINGTON
In a make-up game that was originally scheduled to be played a Versailles last week, the Covington Lady Buccs welcomed the Lady Tigers in non-conference action on Wednesday.

And Covington captured an impressive 9-2 win as visitors on the scoreboard.

"We did a lot of things very well today, things we haven't done all year," said Covington coach Dean Denlinger. "One of those is getting timely hits when we need them."

Which is what Haley Smith did in the third inning with two runner on base and two outs on the scoreboard. The freshman launched a three-run home run over the left field fence to get Covington rolling.

"Our freshman are playing very well," said Denlinger. "We didn't have Shelby (Kihm) today, but Hannah (Pond) and Haley (Smith) played very well today."

Covington also made some big plays in the field, most notably a shoe-string catch in center field by Katie Dickey that prevented a potential Versailles run.

"That was a heck of a catch," Denlinger said. "She also had the hardest hit single I've seen in a while."

The single Denlinger was referring to came in the fifth inning as Dickey launched a towering shot down the right field line that fell just a few feet short of clearing the fence.

"We had a hit and run on and the two girls on base had to go back and tag up," Denlinger described. "That was a shot (by Dickey)."

Covington pounded out 15 hits in the contest and didn't commit a single error in the field, while Versailles had just five hits and two fielding errors.

"Our pitching was good again," said Denlinger. "It was nice to see (Kristen) Boggs get some action."

Boggs came in and closed out the contest in the seventh after Chloe Shell pitched four innings and Halley Roberts went two innings. It was Boggs' first action on the mound this season as she suffered a broken finger before the season started.

The trio combined to strike out nine and walked just one batter.

Another player returning to the line-up was Michelle Leistner, who missed action since an injury against Milton. The senior went 2-4 and recorded an RBI to go along with her outstanding effort at second base.

"It's nice to have her back," Denlinger said. "She does so many good things for us that there's abig void when she's not on the field."

Haley Smith was 3-4 with a home run and four RBI, while Halley Roberts was 3-4 with a double.

Kristen Boggs was 2-3 with an RBI and Katie Dickey was 1-3.

"We hit the ball hard," Denlinger described. "Sarah Westfall hit some balls very hard that they made some great plays on or she would have had a few big hits."

Versailles didn't give anything easy to Covington as its defense made some spectacular plays throughout the contest, consistently robbing the Lady Buccs of potential hits.

"Versailles is a very nice team." Denlinger praised. "They have some athletes. Their shortstop was all over the place making plays."

The victory improves Covington's record to 4-0 on the season as Minster comes to town tomorrow.

Scoring by Innings:
Covington ..........0...3...0...3...1...2...0 - 9 - 15 - 0
Versailles ...........0...0...2...0...0...0...0 - 2 - 5 - 2