COVINGTON – Outside of one inning, the Covington Lady Buccs played a great game that led to an impressive 20-7 victory over Minster in five innings.
Neither team was able to score in the first inning, but the Lady Buccs appeared to break the game open by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Things started as Taylor Foutz singled and Cassidy Iddings doubled to put runners on second and third. With two outs, Emma Ouellette doubled to score two runs and then Karlee Schwartz, Ava Hartwig and Jayda McClure hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to take a 6-0 lead. Minster changed their pitcher and Emalyn Johnson hit the fourth straight home run for Covington. This accomplishment tied a state record of consecutive home runs in an inning and pushed Covington’s lead to 7-0 in two innings.
In the third inning, the Lady Buccs had two runners on the bases for potential scoring opportunities, but Minster made the defensive plays to leave the runners stranded on bases.
In the top of the fourth the Lady Buccs committed an error that handed the first scoring run to Minster and then the Wildcats hit a two-run homer to close the gap to 7-3. Another mistake loaded the bases for Minster and they hit a grand slam to tie the score at 7-7.
Covington responded in the bottom of the fourth as Emalyn Johnson drew a walk and Taylor Foutz hit a double that scored Emalyn to push the lead to 8-7.
The Lady Buccs then shut Minster down on three batters to get back to the plate quickly in the bottom of the fifth inning. Cassidy Iddings led off with a double and Emma Ouellette sacrificed a bunt to move Iddings to third. Karlee Schwartz then singled to score Iddings with just one out and Ava Hartwig singled to put runners on first and second. Jayda McClure then hit her second home run of the day to put the Lady Buccs up 12-7 with still just one out.
Emalyn Johnson singled and stolen second and third bases. Whitney Burns drove a single to score Johnson and Taylor Foutz singled to put runners on first and second once again. Kyle Palsgrove followed up by drilling a powerful home run to push the lead to 16-7 with still one out.
Things continued well as Cassidy Iddings singled and Karlee Schwartz drew a walk. Minster switched to its third pitcher and Ava Hartwig drew a walk to load the bases. Fittingly, Jayda McClure closed out the game with a grand slam for a 20-7 win.
The offensive performance by the Lady Buccs was extremely impressive as they connected on seven home runs throughout the five innings. The team now has 21 home runs so far this season.
Jayda McClure, a senior, put together a great game she will likely remember for the rest of her life. She suffered a scary injury on her right hand from a line drive connected by Minster in the second inning, but somehow Jayda was able to battle back by making some great defensive plays and pounding the ball with three home runs – one of them a grand slam. McClure now leads the team with six home runs so far this season.
Covington is now 8-2 and will travel to face Bethel tomorrow.
