APRIL 10, 2010 - RUSSIA
There's a reason Covington coach Dean Denlinger is high on his freshman class and the proof was in the performance of the youngsters in a double-header sweep over Russia on Saturday.

In the 3-0 victory in game one, freshman Heidi Snipes broke open a scoreless contest with a bases clearing three-run double. Then, in the 19-0 victory in the second game, freshman Connor Schaffer connected on a grand slam and a bases loaded double to drive in seven runs in the contest.

That's not all. Three more freshman came up big for Covington as Brittanie Flora went 3-5 with a double, while Kyrstyn Boyer and Casey Yingst each had hits that drove in runs.

"Our freshman class is really coming along," Denlinger praised. "Once the mental aspect of the game catches up with their physical ability, watch out. They'll be pretty good."

The Lady Buccs also had senior leadership as evident by the overall performance of Shelby Hoblit and the pitching of Halley Roberts. Hoblit recorded a towering home run, while Roberts hurled five outstanding innings in the second contest.

"We had great senior leadership today," Denlinger said. "Shelby (Hoblit) played great in the outfield and she had some big hits as well. Halley (Roberts) was outstanding on the mound.

And there was the effort behind the plate of Sarah Westfall, who came off an uncharacteristic rough outing against Miami East.

"Sarah struggled against East with a few balls getting by her, but she didn't allow anything by her today," said Denlinger.

The first game was a pitcher's dual as neither team could manage much offense through six innings.

Russia did have the bases loaded in the first, but Chloe Shell shut down the final two batters to end the threat.

"Not allowing them to score with the bases loaded was huge," Denlinger said. "Chloe had good command of her pitches."

Shell went the distance in the opening contest, striking out ten and not allowing a single walk.

It was needed as Covington was held without a hit until the seventh inning and went into the top of the seventh deadlocked in a scoreless tie.

Aubrye Cain opened the seventh with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Hannah Pond. Sarah Westfall drew the one out walk and Shelby Hoblit loaded the bases by reaching on Russia's only error of the game.

One swing of the bat by Heidi Snipes gave Covington all the runs it needed as the freshman drove a line shot into right-center for a bases-clearing double and a 3-0 victory.

"We couldn't get much going against their pitcher," said Denlinger. "We only had two hits against her and those both came in the seventh inning."

After a break for lunch, the two teams took to the diamond for the second contest.

Covington managed to score a run in the second and another in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead in a contest that appeared to be headed toward another low scoring affair.

But Covington broke the game open with seven runs on the fifth and ten more in the seventh for the 19-0 victory.

"We needed that (a big scoring inning)," Denlinger said. "We haven't been able to put together a big inning in a while, so scoring runs like that is a huge boost for us."

What's also big for Covington was being able to come back less than 24 hours after losing an emotional contest to Miami East last night and claiming two straight victories.

"Last night was very emotional for us," stated Denlinger. "We got beat at our own game and for us to come back and play like we did today was very gratifying."

And it took all 17 players to get the job done.

"This was a total team effort," Denlinger continued. "Everyone had a hand in it today because we played all 17 kids."

Covington improves to 9-2 on the season and travels to Fort Loramie on Monday.

GAME ONE SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington .............0...0...0...0...0...0...3 - 3 .. 2 .. 1
Russia ...................0...0...0...0...0...0...0 - 0 .. 4 .. 1

GAME TWO SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington .............0...1...0...1...7...0...10 - 19 .. 19 .. 0
Russia ...................0...0...0...0...0...0.....0 - 0 .. 2 .. 1