The Alleghany Mountaineers exacted some revenge Friday afternoon.
It came in a big way.
Emalee Phillips slugged a two-run home run and drove in four, while Gracie Conner added a pair of hits and three RBI, as the Mountaineers avenged an earlier loss to Covington with a 12-2 win.
Daphne Shinault added an inside-the-park homer and had two hits for the Mountaineers, while Kassy Bowen also contributed a pair of knocks.
With the Senior Night victory, Alleghany improved to 4-1 on the season.
“Great team win — a fun Senior Night,” AHS coach Scott Liptrap said. “The team was great with all the seniors. The team was great with each other.”
Liptrap took some of the blame for last Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Cougars.
“Covington played a great game last Friday, but this is the way it should have been,” he said. “Tonight I let the kids take care of business and play the way they can play. They did a great job.”
The Mountaineers jumped out quickly with a pair in the first.
Averi Phillips legged out an infield hit, stole second and later scored on an Emalee Phillips RBI single. Makenzie Kimberlin then plated the latter
Phillips with a ground out, giving the Mountaineers an early 2-0 lead.
The Cougars halved their deficit in the second. Catcher Shiner Terrill led off the inning with long homer to left-center, cutting the Alleghany lead in half, 2-1.
The Phillips duo went back to work in the third.
Averi walked, stole second and later scored on Emalee’s sacrifice fly, upping the Alleghany lead to 3-1.
They then broke things open in the fourth, batting around and scoring five times.
Shinault led off the inning with a double off the left-center field fence and later scored on Kassy Bowen’s run-scoring single.
After winning pitcher Kendell Keene reached on an error, Conner plated a run with an RBI hit.
Emalee Phillips then capped the big inning with a two-run blast to left, giving Alleghany a 8-1 lead.
The Cougars tallied their final run in the fifth when Gabby Marshall singled and later scored, but the Mountaineers ended it with four of their own in the home half of the inning.
Shinault led off the inning by circling the bases after two Covington outfielders ran together trying to track down her fly ball. Bowen and Keene then singled, setting the stage for Conner’s two-run single that ended the game.
“We came out flat,” said Covington coach Tony Taylor. “I thought for sure we’d come down here and give Alleghany a game.
“They have a good team; we have a good team,” the Covington coach added. “Things went their way today.”
Lexi Dressler, Jenna Ruckel, Terrell, Marshall and Skylar Dressler each had one hit for the Cougars, who were guilty of three errors.
“We’ve got to right the ship,” Taylor added. “Errors cost us today. We work on those things in practice, but we come out here and can’t put things together.”
Keene picked up the win in the circle for the Mountaineers. She fanned four and didn’t walk a batter.
Meantime, Kayla Bartley took the loss for the Cougars. She struck out five and walked one. Four of the runs she surrendered were unearned.
“Confidence, we’ve got to get more confidence as a team,” Taylor concluded. “We’ve got to start digging deep and finding some heart.”
The Mountaineers traveled to Glenvar on Monday, while the Cougars, who dipped to 3-2 with the loss, hosted Craig County Monday at the Jackson River Sport Complex.
LINESCORE
Cougars 010 01 — 2 5 3
Mountaineers 201 54 — 12 10 1
WP – Kendell Keene (4-0)
LP – Kayla Bartley (3-2)
HR – Shiner Terrell (2nd inning, 0 on); Emalee Phillips (4th inning, 1 on); Daphne Shinault (5th inning, 0 on)
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