KINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Covington faced a young, but extremely talented Williamsburg team on Friday and played outstanding in all phases of the game in a 10-0 victory in five innings to claim the eleventh district championship in the program’s history.
Yes, the Lady Buccs did run rule Williamsburg in a two-hit shutout victory, but it wasn’t easy by any means. That’s because the Wildcats had three very talented pitchers and a batting lineup that hits the ball well. Williamsburg made great contact on the ball more often than not and the Lady Buccs made some great plays in the field to prevent the Wildcats from getting things going offensively.
Much of that was due to the great pitching performance of Meg Rogers as she mixed things up to keep Williamsburg off balance. Rogers struck out four batters and didn’t allow a single walk throughout the entire game. She hit her spots, which kept the ball in position for the defenders behind her to make plays when Williamsburg made contact.
The trend was started in the top of the first after Williamsburg’s second batter drove a line drive to right field for a single with one out. The next batter hit a really hard one hopper up the middle where Nigella Reck made an amazing play by scooping up the ball, stepped on second and throwing to first for a double play. It ignited the Lady Buccs in the dugout, which carried through in the bottom of the inning at the plate.
Meg Rogers started things off with a double and then Williamsburg intentionally walked Nigella Reck to put runners at first and second. Maggie Anderson came to the plate and drilled a two-run double to score Rogers and Reck for a 2-0 lead.
Mara Newhouse drew a walk and after two straight outs Kamryn Barnes drew a walk to load the bases. Freshman Taylor Foutz then connected on a single that drove in Newhouse and Barnes to give Covington a 4-0 lead after one inning.
The Lady Buccs followed with two runs in the second and two more in the third to take an 8-0 lead, but left the bases loaded in the bottom of the third that prevented further damage.
Williamsburg went to its third pitcher in the bottom of the fourth, a freshman, and she was able to cool down the Lady Buccs by recording three straight outs.
After shutting down Williamsburg in the top of the fifth, Covington returned to the plate in the bottom of the inning with Meg Rogers getting on base by being hit by a pitch. Once again Williamsburg intentionally walked Nigella Reck and Maggie Anderson followed with a double that scored Rogers and put Reck on third.
Mara Newhouse then ended the game with a line shot to left center that went all the way to the fence to score Nigella Reck from third for a 10-0 victory.
Covington was red hot at the plate by tallying 11 hits in the contest.
The biggest impact at the plate for Covington was the performance of Maggie Anderson. Williamsburg intentionally walked Nigella Reck three times and every time Anderson came through in clutch situations. She went 4-for-4 with 5 RBI and scored a run herself. She also drove Reck in twice as Reck went 1-for-1, scored three times and walked three times.
Meg Rogers, the lead-off hitter, went 3-for-3 with one RBI and scored four times. Taylor Foutz had a two-run single and Mara Newhouse had a double that scored the final run.
Defensively, the Lady Buccs put together a flawless performance by not committing a single error in the field. Williamsburg made hard contact on the ball several times to Nigella Reck at short and to Karyanne Turner in center field, but every time the Lady Buccs made the big plays needed to record the outs.
Overall, it was a stellar performance by Covington and the type of performance the Lady Buccs will need to advance in each tournament game.
Next up is a matchup against Riverside in the regional semifinal next Wednesday at Northmont High School. The game is set for 2:00pm.
