CLAYTON – The Covington Lady Buccs had several golden opportunities to break the game open against Parkway in the regional final, but couldn’t come through in clutch situations resulting in a 10-3 defeat.
Overall, the Lady Buccs left 11 runners stranded on base.
It all started in the top of the first, even though the Lady Buccs took a 1-0 lead. Meg Rogers led off with a walk and then stole second. Nigella Reck advanced her to third with a sacrifice fly and then Maggie Anderson scored Rogers won a fielder’s choice. Mara Newhouse walked and Karyanne Turner doubled in the gap, but the Lady Buccs left both the runners stranded at second and third.
After a scoreless second inning, Covington once again put a runner in scoring position with no outs as Meg Rogers walked and reached second on a passed ball. The next three batters made contact, but the ball went directly to Parkway defenders.
Parkway plated a run in the bottom of the third to tie the game, but once again Covington had runners in scoring position in the top of the fourth as Reaghan Lemp drew a once out walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Kamryn Barnes followed with a bunt to move Lemp to third, but once again the Lady Buccs couldn’t take advantage of the scoring opportunity.
With the game still knotted at 1-1 heading into the top of the fifth, the Lady Buccs loaded the bases with no outs as Erika Gostomksy led off with a single and Meg Rogers doubled to put runners at second and third. Parkway intentionally walked Nigella Reck to load the bases with no outs, giving Covington a golden opportunity to break the game open.
Maggie Anderson drew a walk to score Gostomsky and keep the bases loaded, but Parkway was able to get three straight outs on the next three batters to prevent further damage.
This sequence seemed to take the wind out of Covington and lift Parkway as things fell apart for the Lady Buccs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Parkway made contact on the ball and Covington made several mental mistakes in the field that led to a five-run inning.
Trailing 6-2 in the top fo the sixth, Covington put itself in position to get back into the game. The Lady Buccs scored a run by Taylor Foutz, who led off with a walk, but left runners on second and third.
Parkway put four more runs on the board in the bottom fo the sixth to take a 10-3 lead and Covington once again left two runners stranded on second and third in the final inning.
The defeat was a painful one for the Lady Buccs, but it doesn’t define a great season these girls put together in compiling a 28-5 record.
