MARCH 31, 2010 - COVINGTON
It's a good night when you can get all 17 of your players into the game and come away with an 8-1 victory on the home field.

"I know the score doesn't show it, but we played much better tonight than we did last night (against Anna)," said a pleased Covington coach Dean Denlinger after his team defeated Milton-Union in the home opener. "We got everyone into the game and saw a lot of kids play very well off the bench."

And Denlinger can't help but praise his freshman class.

"We had five freshman on the field at the same time," he said. "And those kids didn't miss a beat. They've still got some maturity to gain, but our freshman are pretty good."

His seniors are pretty good as well. One of those is Halley Roberts, who pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just two his and striking out nine.

Roberts also had complete control of her game as she didn't allow a single walk.

"Halley Roberts had great control tonight," Denlinger praised. "I call all the pitches and she didn't miss any of her locations. She was hitting all four corners of the (strike) zone."

Chloe Shell closed out the contest by pitching the final inning and recording three strikeouts.

Roberts helped herself at the plate with an RBI single, two stolen bases and a pair of runs.

Shelby Hoblit went 2-for-2, while Sarah Westfall and Connor Schaffer each had an RBI and Heidi Snipes doubled.

And Brittanie Flora came off the bench for the second straight night to contribute with a big hit. The freshman wrapped a two-run base hit in the bottom of the sixth to spark a four-run inning.

The victory improves Covington to 2-0 on the season as it has outscored the first two opponents 16-1.

Things don't come easy for Covington, however, as Graham comes to town tomorrow and Indian Lake awaits Saturday for a double-header.

"We've got a tough road ahead of us," said Denlinger. "But I love it when we play bigger schools and quality teams. That's what makes this so much fun."

Scoring by Innings:
Milton ..............0....0....0....0....0....0....1 - 1 .. 4 .. 5
Covington ......3....0....0....0....1....4....x - 8 .. 10 .. 2