ANSONIA – Covington was in a tough game through three innings against Ansonia as they were tied 7-7, but the Lady Buccs erupted with 10 unanswered points to capture a 17-7 victory in five innings.
Jayda McClure started off the Lady Buccs with a home run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, but Ansonia responded in the bottom half of the inning by scoring three runs to take a 3-1 lead.
Neither team was able to score in the second inning, but Covington appeared to break the game open by scoring six runs in the top of the third to take a 7-3 lead. The big hits in that inning were home runs by Kylie Palsgrove and a second home run by Jayda McClure.
Unfortunately, the Lady Buccs made a critical defensive mistake that allowed the gritty Tigers to score four runs in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 7-7. After that error, Ansonia’s Ava Thatcher drilled a powerful home run to bring that talented team back into contention.
After the great coaching staff refocused the ladies, the Lady Buccs dominated the rest of the game by playing great defense and executing at the plate to capture a run-rule victory.
The domination started in the fourth inning as Covington tallied eight runs across the plate to take a 15-7 lead. What ignited the huge inning was a two-run home run pounded out by Emma Ouellette and the aggressive base running by every player who was able to get onto bases.
The Lady Buccs shut down Ansonia scoreless in the bottom of the fourth and then responded with two more scoring runs in the top of the fifth to take a 17-7 lead.
Ansonia was able to put one runner on base in the bottom of the fifth, but the Lady Buccs made the defensive plays needed to eliminate any runs by Ansonia to extend the game.
Overall, Covington outhit the Tigers 17-6 throughout the game as eight of the nine batters were able to capture hits.
Jayda McClure went 3-for-3 with two home runs and 4 RBIs and she scored four times in the game as she also drew an intentional walk. Plus, Kylie Palsgrove performed extremely well as she went 3-for-4 at the plate with one home run, a double and 6 RBIs.
The Lady Buccs are now 5-0 in the early points of the season and will travel to Greenville this Saturday for a double-header.
