APRIL 6, 2010 - COVINGTON
Covington's Halley Roberts was in a zone Tuesday night on the mound, hurling a no-hitter in a 4-0 shutout victory in the Cross County Conference opener against Bethel.

"Halley was hitting her zones very well," said Covington coach Dean Denlinger. "We called a lot of pitches on the edges to keep them (Bethel hitters) chasing and Halley hit all of her spots."

Roberts faced 23 batters in the contest, striking out 12 and allowing only one walk. The only other base runner came on a fielding error by Covington.

"She (Roberts) never got into any jams she had to work her way out of," Denlinger said. "They (Bethel) only had two base runners all night, one on the walk and the other of the dropped fly ball in the outfield. Other than that, Halley was in complete control."

Other than the one miscue, the defensive effort was outstanding in backing up Roberts. Bethel had two potential hits snuffed out by outstanding defensive plays, one being a line shot snagged by Aubrye Cain at first and the other being a blooper to shallow left field that was ran down by freshman shortstop Casey Yingst.

"Our pitching and defense is carrying us right now," said Denlinger. "Defensively, we're playing very well."

Covington hasn't yet found its groove at the plate as evident by the 12 runners stranded on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the second and the fifth.

"It was an off night (at the plate)," Denlinger explained. "We wasn't able to get our bunts down or come up with big hits when we had runners on base."

Covington scored a run in the third and held the one-run lead into the bottom of the sixth.

Roberts helped her own cause with a lead off double and moved to third on a steal. She then scored on a Bethel attempt to pick her off at third as the ball bounced off Robert's back and into the outfield.

Shortly thereafter, Covington had runners at second and third with two outs and Sarah Westfall came up big with a two-run single to give the Lady Buccs a 4-0 cushion of the scoreboard.

Which was enough for Roberts as she shut down the final three Bethel hitters in the top of the seventh to secure the no-hit victory.

Covington tallied eight hits in the contest with Hannah Pond leading the way with two hits in four at bats.

Aubrye Cain, Sarah Westfall, Heidi Snipes and Casey Yingst each singled in the contest, while Roberts had a double.

Covington improves to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the CCC.

The Lady Buccs travel to Minster on Thursday.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Bethel .....................0...0...0...0...0...0...0 - 0 .. 0 .. 2
Covington ..............0...0...1...0...0...3...x - 4 .. 8 .. 1