COVINGTON – Miami East traveled to Covington on Thursday in a huge TRC showdown between two teams who shared the league title a year ago and the game was another exciting battle that ads to a great rivalry.
Unfortunately, Miami East wasn’t able to hold on to an early lead and two big innings by Covington led to a 12-9 loss.
“They did have two big innings,” said Miami East coach Fran Kadel. “They had some hits in those innings, but we helped them out by not making some plays on defense. We have to work on shoring up our defense.”
For Covington, the game was similar to Wednesday night’s come-from-behind victory over Greenville.
“Tonight is bigger than last night,” said Covington coach Dan Cain. “I don’t care if it was Greenville. This was bigger because it was conference. We had two big innings. We did a great job of stringing hits together. Reaghan Lemp and Jayda McClure had some big hits for us.”
Miami East loaded the bases in the first inning with a pair of walks and an infield hit and were to score a run on another walk to take a 1-0 lead, but unfortunately the Lady Vikings weren’t able to due further damage and left three runners stranded.
The Lady Vikings then took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on a home run by Whitni Enis that landing in the parking lot well behind the home run fence.
Covington put a run on the road in the bottom of the third, but in the top of the fourth Enis connected on her second consecutive home run to push Miami East’s lead to 4-1.
“She (Enis) has been struggling a little bit,” said Miami East coach Brian Kadel. “It is just a matter of her being patient and waiting for a pitch she can drive and she did a great job of that tonight.”
Through the first three innings Covington was able to make contact, but Miami East made the plays in the field to hold the Lady Buccs in check. That changed in the bottom of the fourth as Covington scored six runs to take a 7-4 lead.
Miami East battled back in the top of the fifth by scoring four runs to take an 8-7 lead. The big hit came on a three-run home run by Rachael Haak, which at the time gave the Lady Vikings so much momentum that led to a scoreless fifth inning for Covington.
“That is just a senior stepping up,” Kadel said in regards to Haak’s big hit.
The momentum shifted once again in the bottom of the sixth as Covington scored five runs in the inning.
The Lady Buccs loaded the bases with three straight hits and took advantage of the opportunity by plating five runs in the inning to take a 12-8 lead. Reaghan Lemp had a RBI single and Jayda McClure drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Nigella Reck, in another bases-loaded situation, drilled a two-run single to cap the rally.
“She (Nigella Reck) is second in the state in homers and was up the inning before with the bases loaded,” Cain said. “But, it worked out. That was big hit to give us a four-run lead.”
Miami East kept fighting and scored a run in the top of the seventh and had two runners in scoring position, but Covington was able to get the final out on a blooper to preserve the win.
“Our kids never quit battling,” Kadel said. “If you score nine runs, you think that will be enough.”
Miami East tallied 9 hits on the day, while the Lady Buccs had 15 hits. Miami East had 4 errors in the field to 3 for Covington.
The loss drops Miami East to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the TRC.
