APRIL 15, 2010 - COVINGTON
It wasn't spectacular, but Covington methodically broke down a young Tri-County North team for a 10-0 victory in five innings.

"They (Tri-County North) are a young team," said Covington coach Dean Denlinger. "They have ten freshman on the roster."

And Covington did what it had to do, take advantage of eight walks by running aggressively on the base paths. In all, the Lady Buccs scored three of the ten runs on passed balls.

"There were a lot of walks and sacs (sacrifices)," Denlinger said. "We had three batters get on base by being hit by pitches. Not too often you score 10 runs on five hits, but that's what we had tonight."

Which spelled doom for the visiting Panthers as Halley Roberts was one batter from hurling a perfect game - the threat ended with a Tri-County North single in the top of the fifth. Still, Roberts disposed of 15 of the 16 batters she faced in the five innings of work.

"Roberts had good command of her pitches and we backed her up in the field," said Denlinger. "We're playing very well defensively."

It was Covington's fourth straight game without committing an error.

Casey Yingst and Chloe Shell each drove in two runs, while Connor Schaffer, Halley Roberts and Carol Bayse recorded RBIs as well.

Both Sarah Westfall and Aubrye Cain went 2-3 and Cain also stole a base, while Bayse recorded Covington's other hit on a 1-1 effort.

The victory improves Covington to 12-2 overall and 3-1 in the Cross County Conference. It also sets the stage for a huge showdown at Twin Valley South tomorrow.

"I hope we can get that game in," said Denlinger, well aware of the poor weather that is expected to move in. "That's going to be a great game."

South has virtually the same team that ended Covington's season a year ago in the sectional tournament by the score of 2-1 after the Lady Buccs won a 7-0 contest earlier in the year.

SCORING BY QUARTERS:
Tri-County North .........0...0...0...0...0 - 0 .. 1 .. 2
Covington ...................1...2...3...3...1 - 10 .. 5 .. 0