APRIL 15, 2011 - LEWISBURG
If there was a fence in the outfield of Tri-County North's softball field, Friday's CCC contest between Covington and the host Panthers would have probably resembled a home run derby rather than a low-scoring 2-1 affair.

But there was no fence and the outfielders spent seven innings chasing down long fly balls - one after another.

"We hit the ball hard now," said Covington coach Dean Denlinger. "This may be the hardest we've hit the ball all year, but they (Tri-County North) just kept chasing them down."

A good five or six towering shots by Covington would have been out in a fenced facility and the Panthers had a couple as well. The clear green grass seemed to run forever allowing the defenders to play deep and run down anything hit their way.

"I told their coach after the game - and I truly meant it - their outfield played a heck of a game," Denlinger praised of North. "Some of the balls they chased down just blew me away. We hit some hard, line shots that I was sure were going to drop and their outfielders got good jumps on the ball and made some very nice catches. I was very impressed by them."

It made for a frustrating offensive evening for Covington as runs were hard to come by.

But the Lady Buccs managed to score a run in the first inning and then the winning run in the fifth inning to remain unbeaten at 11-0 and 5-0 in the CCC.

"The entire night felt weird," Denlinger said. "Some of the balls just seemed to travel weird, like they would hang up there forever. I told one of the coaches I couldn't wait to get out of there because I had a bad feeling."

Denlinger's worries were eased by his own team's defensive effort and pitching performance by Chloe Shell.

Shell went the distance with 12 strikeouts and allowed just three hits in the contest, while the defense committed just one error.

And it was the one error that resulted in North's only run in the fourth inning.

"They hit a nice shot to left field for a double and then tried stealing third," Denlinger explained. "We tried making a play at third, but the ball got past us and she scored. Other than that, we played a nice game defensively."

Aubrye Cain, Casey Yingst, Connor Scheaffer, Brittanie Flora and Shainna Grilliot accounted for the six Covington hits in the contest. Cain and Scheaffer each tripled, while Yingst doubled.

Covington receives a much needed rest over the weekend and will travel to New Bremen on Monday.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington .................1..0..0..0..1..0..0 - 2 - 6 - 1
Tri-County North ......0..0..0..1..0..0..0 - 1 - 3 - 0