Italy wins bitter sweet double-header against Covington; Seniors take final walk
Lady Gladiator senior Morgan Cockerham(8) touches third and then races home to help Italy defeat Covington during the first game of a double-header on Saturday. (Barry Byers)
Italy — Enjoying Senior Day, the Italy Lady Gladiators win the first game of a double-header against Covington 21-0 and then take the second game 18-0 to improve to an 11-0 district record with one district game remaining.
Seniors Alyssa Richards, Morgan Cockerham and Katie Byers were honored between games with gift bags and flowers as the trio played their final two home games as Lady Gladiators.
Italy relied on a heavy offensive barrage to outscore Covington 39-0 during the two games. Richards recorded her fifth homerun of the season sending a shot well over the left field fence. The Tennessee Tech commit also recorded a triple. Jaclynn Lewis added her second homerun of the season with an inside-the-park 2 RBI effort into the centerfield gap along with a base hit. In the second game, sophomore K’Breona Davis knocked in first career homerun, relying on her speed to beat the relay into home plate.
Also having big at bats for Italy in the first game were Paige Westbrook with a triple, a single and an RBI as did Tara Wallis who also hit a triple, a single and knocked in an RBI. Kelsey Nelson hit twice with 1 RBI, Bailey Eubank hit on base twice also recording 2 RBIs.
Madison Washington smashed a pair of doubles in game one with one RBI and crossed home plate 3 times herself as did Nelson. Byers reached first base twice, recorded one hit, got on base off a Covington fielding error and knocked in 2 RBIs while scoring twice herself. Cockerham reached base three times on one hit and two walks, had 1 RBI and scored 1 run.
Lewis had 7 strikeouts on the mound with three Covington batters swinging and missing on the third strike and caught looking on the other four. Lewis hit one Covington batter with a pitch and gave up one hit to ruin her chances for a perfect game but Italy sill got the first game shutout 21-0 with Lewis at the controls.
In the second game of the double-header, Italy’s offensive punch delivered jab after jab before Davis’s home run all but ended the challenge from Covington. With Italy’s JV girls now in the lineup for the second game, Westbrook’s experience led the way with two more triples and 2 RBIs. Freshman Hannah Washington had a single, a double and 3 RBIs, Richards had a double, a single and an RBI and Byers had a single, a double and two RBIs. Cockerham hit a single, walked once and scored two runs.
Freshman Lillie Perry was walked with bases loaded to score an Italy run and scored another run herself after the double by Hannah Washington. Freshman Cassidy Childers earned a walk, Britney Chambers scored twice as a pinch runner, walked twice and had 1 RBI.
Lewis didn’t need to be a hitter in the second game but stayed on the mound to throw 6 more strikeouts to Richards who remained at catcher for the second game as well. Lewis caught half of Covington’s batter’s swinging and half looking at strike threes for a final total of 13 on the day. Covington grounded out twice to the mound with Lewis making the throws to Byers at first base for both outs. Covington also sent a fly ball into centerfield but Cockerham made the grab for Italy to help secure Lewis’s perfect game.
Be sure to make the drive tomorrow, Tuesday, April 16, to show your support for the Lady Gladiators who will be traveling to DeSoto in order to meet up with Waxahachie’s Faith Family. This will be the final district contest of the season with the game starting at 5:30 p.m.