The Shadow
The losses are tougher to swallow when you battle to the end and come up just short.
Case in point: the Covington Cougars.
University of Virginia commit Avery Mabe outdueled Covington sophomore Sammy Akers Monday afternoon, and the George Wythe Maroons made a three-spot in the third stand for a 3-2 win over the Cougars in the opening round of the Class 1, Region C baseball tournament.
The Maroons advanced to the Region C semifinals later this week, while the Cougars called it a season, finishing 2019 with a record of 11-9.
“I’m proud of the way our kids fought today,” said Covington coach Kevin Hall. “We battled, and they basically got us on a bloop hit.”
Shortstop Josh Devine’s single to left plated Andrew East with George Wythe’s first run in the third.
Then a little later in the inning, Dakota Goins dropped one just inside the right field line. A?diving Isaac Craft came close to making the catch, but his valiant attempt came up just short. Two more runs scored, and Mabe had a 3-1 lead.
Garrett Morgan led off the Covington fifth with a single to right. He stole second and later scored on a wild pitch, cutting the George Wythe advantage to 3-2.
Mabe retired the Cougars in order in the sixth, but Covington threatened in the seventh.
With one out, Alex Looney reached on a third-strike wild pitch, and Morgan walked. With two aboard, Mabe rebounded, getting Craft to ground into a fielder’s choice before fanning Jaun Miller to end the game.
Miller set the tone for the Cougars in the home half of the first. He lined a sharp single to left-center leading off the game, advanced to third on a couple of groundouts and scored on Levi Dressler’s infield single.
The Cougars enjoyed that 1-0 lead until the third.
“We had a game plan, and we put the bat on the ball,”?said Hall, whose Cougars had six hits on the afternoon. “That kid over there was really good.”
Mabe, a hard-throwing junior righthander, entered Monday’s contest with a 1.04 ERA. He fanned nine and only walked one, improving to 5-3 on the season with the complete-game win.
He also benefitted from left fielder Cole Simmons throwing out a Cougar at the plate in the third.
Akers was equally impressive for Covington. He struck out 10 and walked only two in going the distance.
“Sammy’s pitched big for us all year, and he came up big again today,”?Hall said. “He located and kept them off stride.”
The Cougars also made some outstanding plays behind Akers. Morgan robbed Mabe with a diving catch to his left to end the first, and Miller made a fine running catch in left-center to take extra bases from Adam Watson leading off the Maroon fourth.
Alex Looney fielded a short hop grounder off the bat of Junior Francisco and threw him out at first for the third out of the fifth, while Simon Gibson and Morgan hooked up for a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play to end the George Wythe sixth.
Goins led George Wythe with a pair of hits, while Dressler had two for the Cougars.
Miller, Skyler Barnett, Gibson and Morgan had the other Cougar knocks.
“We did everything we could do, but we came up just short,” Hall said.
The loss ended the careers for five Covington seniors — Miller, Chandler Cook, Looney, Morgan and Dallan Givens.
“They have all contributed to our success over the last five years,Hall concluded. “We’re going to miss them.”
