COVINGTON – Covington pulled out another impressive win by defeating Arcanum 6-1 on Friday in a week where the Lady Buccs played some of the top teams in the area on five consecutive days.
Monday it was Bethel, Riverside on Tuesday, Greenville on Wednesday, Miami East yesterday and today Arcanum, who is now 8-3 and is the leading team in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference standings. And even though Covington defeated all five opponents, the Lady Buccs still are looking to put together a complete game.
But the fact that the Lady Buccs were able to run the table against five quality programs on consecutive days shows their mental toughness and ability to overcome mistakes.
On Friday the Lady Buccs committed three errors and left eight runners stranded on the base paths.
Yet, Covington was able to connect on big hits in clutch situations, something it had been able to do in big games against quality opponents.
Neither team could score in the first two innings and Covington finally broke a scoreless tie with a run in the bottom of the third.
Arcanum took advantage of a Covington error to plate a run in the top of the fourth, but the Lady Buccs responded in the bottom half of the inning with a three-run home run by Mara Newhouse.
Meg Rogers followed with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth and the Lady Buccs capped the victory by scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Covington made some big plays defensively despite committing three errors and Erika Gostomsky put together an outstanding performance in the circle. Gostomsky went the distance and didn’t allow any earned runs against a very good Arcanum team. She struck out six batters, walked one and allowed just one hit.
The performance by Gostomsky against Miami East yesterday and today against Arcanum shows just how valuable it is for Covington to have two outstanding pitchers on the roster – Gostomsky and Meg Rogers. The duo can assist each other if one is having an off day.
Covington connected on 10 hits with Maggie Anderson leading the way with three hits in four at bats. Nigella Reck, who has been intentionally walked many times throughout the season, took advantage of opportunities by recording two hits. Gostomsky helped out her cause with two hits as well, one being a double.
Newhouse and Rogers both connected on home runs and Reaghan Lemp hit a single.
Covington improves its record to 10-2 on the season and looks for its sixth straight win in six days tomorrow at Lehman Catholic.
