CASSTOWN – Thursday’s highly anticipated matchup between Covington and Miami East didn’t go the way the Lady Buccs wanted as golden opportunities got away in a 6-2 defeat to the Lady Vikings.
The outcome puts three teams in the hunt for at least a share of the league title with Covington at 11-2, Miami East at 10-2 and Riverside at 9-2 in the league. Covington and Miami East still must play Riverside and for the Lady Buccs to win the league outright they need to defeat Riverside and Riverside needs to beat Miami East.
The Lady Buccs entered the game at the top of the league standings and a win would have secured at least a share of the TRC title.
Unfortunately, the Lady Buccs couldn’t take advantage of opportunities and made critical mistakes that benefited Miami East – especially in the second inning.
Covington opened the game with a run in the first inning and had runners at second and third with one out. Miami East was able to make two great plays in the field to prevent Covington from doing further damage.
Miami East then took advantage of two Covington errors by plating four runs in the second and followed with a run in the bottom of the third for a 5-1 lead. The Lady Buccs left two runners stranded in the fourth and two more stranded in the fifth.
In the top of the sixth, Covington loaded the bases with one out and scored a run on a walk by Nigella Reck. With a chance to break through for a big inning, the next two batters for Covington struck out and flied out to end the inning with Miami East holding on to a 5-2 lead.
The Lady Vikings then put an insurance run on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a towering home run by freshman Jaycee Roeth.
In Covington’s final at bat the Lady Vikings were able to get three straight outs to end the game.
Overall, Covington tallied five hits in the game, while Miami East had seven hits. The hits for Covington were on a double by Meg Rogers and singles from Nigella Reck, Maggie Anderson, Mara Newhouse and Erika Gostomsky.
Meg Rogers went the distance in the circle and she struck out seven batters and walked four.
Covington drops its record to 20-4 overall and 11-2 in the TRC.
