COVINGTON – Tri-Village played well at times on Wednesday but lost 10-0 to a tough Covington squad in a five-inning run rule.
“We are very young so our goal isn’t about winning and losing at the moment,” Tri-Village softball coach Tracy Barhorst said. “It’s about progressing from one game to the next, and actually these girls really played well. This is a great team (in Covington). They are district, regional teams every year. They played the best that they could. We had a lot of mental errors, but I start six freshmen.”
Tri-Village had chances to score as the Patriots had a runner on in each inning. However, they couldn’t get anyone in.
“We didn’t do well base running tonight,” Barhorst said. “We got on the bases several times, and we killed ourselves. We have not strung hits together, and we haven’t been able to get runs in because a lack of focus on the base running.”
Covington’s offense, meanwhile, plated runs in each inning on Wednesday.
In the first Allison Babylon got a one-out infield single and went to second on a Tri-Village error. Brooke Gostomsky then hit a two-out double to drive in Babylon. Moments later Kara Schaffer reached on an infield single to bring in another run and make it 2-0 in favor of Covington.
In the second inning Ashley Cecil reached base on an error and proceeded to steal second and third. She scored on a sacrifice bunt by Megan Alexander to increase the lead to 3-0.
In the third inning Gostomsky singled, and Lexie Long hit a RBI double to make it a 4-0 game.
After limiting Covington to a run or two per inning, Tri-Village gave up four in the fourth inning.
Cecil started off the inning with an infield single, Alexander reached on a fielder’s choice, and Arianna Richards singled to load the bases with none out.
After Tri-Village got the first out of the inning on a fielder’s choice at home, a passed ball allowed a run to score and make it 5-0. The Patriots got a pop up for the second out of the inning, but then Gostomsky hit a three-run home run to left to clear the bases and make it 8-0.
In the fifth inning Covington got two more runs to win by a run rule.
It started with Alexander singling and then moving around the bases with the aid of a sacrifice grounder and two Tri-Village errors to score and make it 9-0.
With Cecil standing on second, it appeared Covington won the game when pinch hitter Emma Dammeyer drilled a pitch into right. However, Dammeyer was called out on an illegal substitution to negate the run.
It didn’t take long after that for Covington to get that winning run in, though, as Richards singled to bring in Cecil for the game’s final run.
Covington had 12 hits in the game and stranded four runners. Tri-Village had just one hit, a single by Kloey Murphy in the fourth, but stranded five runners.
Gostomsky was the winning pitcher for Covington. She gave up one hit, walked four and struck out 10.
Taylor Bowles was the losing pitcher for Tri-Village. She allowed 12 hits, walked one and struck out two.
Tri-Village had four errors in the game, and Covington committed one.
“Taylor came out and pitched really well for us, and we stayed behind her,” Barhorst said. “We made some good plays. We have to learn from the plays we didn’t make, but I think they’re getting there.”
Tri-Village will travel to Russia on Thursday.
