COVINGTON – The Covington Lady Buccs had a huge day on Saturday by defeating two Division I teams – Xenia by the score of 15-2 and Fairborn 8-4.
In the first game against Xenia, the Lady Buccs recorded a dominating 15-2 victory in five innings. Covington racked up nine hits, but committed two errors that led to one unearned run.
Ava Hartwig, Jayda McClure and Karyanne Turner drilled home runs and Turner also connected on a triple where she headed home after a throwing error by Xenia. Kamryn Barnes and Emalyn Johnson doubled as well for Covington.
After Xenia connected on a home run in the top of the first, Covington built a 12-1 lead through two innings after scoring four runs in the first and eight in the second. Throughout the remainder of the contest the Covington runners held up on bases instead of attempting to steal. Still, Covington scored two more runs in the third and another run in the fourth.
Xenia was able to score a run in the top of the fifth due to a Covington error, but the Lady Buccs prevented any further damage to record the win.
Jayda McClure threw the first three innings and allowed just one hit, while Stevi Newhouse threw the final two innings and allowed three hits. The duo combined to strike out five batters.
The second game against Fairborn was called in the bottom of the sixth inning due to weather and Covington walked off the field with an impressive 8-4 win.
Fairborn connected on a two-run home run in the top of the first after the Lady Buccs failed to haul in a pop-up foul ball that would have been the third out of the inning.
Fortunately Covington responded with three runs in the bottom of the first and then took a 7-3 lead by scoring four runs in the bottom of the third. Fairborn scored a run in the top of the fifth and then Jayda McClure drilled a solo home run for Covington in the bottom of the fifth to give the Lady Buccs an 8-4 lead.
The Lady Buccs shut down Fairborn in the to top the sixth and Stevi Newhouse led off with a single in the bottom of the sixth. After stealing second, Newhouse was unfortunately thrown out at third after the ball bounced into the outfield.
Ava Hartwig followed by drilling a double to the fence and the game was called due to lightning.
Overall, Covington tallied 12 hits and took advantage of three errors committed by Fairborn. Karyanne Turner picked up the win in the circle as she threw all six innings.
Covington closes out its regular season record at 18-7 and will host Bradford on Tuesday in the opening round of tournament play.
