It has been tough in recent weeks when the skies became cloudy.
Teams did not know whether they would be playing or not. The Covington Catholic Colonels (5-6) and Campbell County Camels (6-4) baseball teams played. But it came at a different site.
The game moved to Park Hills since it did not rain as much there. The Colonels slowly built a 5-0 lead and held on for a 5-3 non-region win.
CovCath senior left-handed pitcher Luke Lenhof (2-0) started the game and pitched into the seventh inning. He threw 113 pitches with 71 strikes. Lenhof struck out eight, walked six and gave up three earned runs and six hits.
“Some of them like to pull it. I know they have power,” Lenhof said. “The outfielders did a good job. I definitely got tired there at the end. The mound was getting a little rough too from all the rain. But You just had to keep throwing strikes in there and keep hoping your fielders make some plays.”
Sophomore lefty Eli Wagner picked up his second save of the year for CovCath. He struck out one and allowed one hit recording the final two outs in the seventh inning.
The Colonels batted just .190 (4 for 21) in the game. But they made them and their three walks count. Freshman shortstop Jackson Reardon scored twice recording a walk and a hit by pitch.
“It was just the opposite on Saturday (in a 4-2 loss at Ryle) when we had nine hits and outhit the opponent,” said Bill Krumpelbeck, CovCath Head Coach. “That’s baseball. Luke Lenhof and (senior first baseman) Will Burke are our two captains and we needed them big time to stop the slide.”
CovCath had one extra-base hit. It came in the bottom of the second when sophomore center fielder Charlie Dieruf doubled.
The Camels batted .259 (7 for 27) in the game. They also had three walks and committed the game’s only error. Senior center fielder Greg Vineyard and senior third baseman Tyler Fowler both went 2 for 4. Vineyard scored and Fowler had a double and scored twice. Junior second baseman Jake Gross added a double and two RBI.
“Our kids are resilient. They fought,” said Greg Schweitzer, Campbell County Head Coach. “Offensively, they couldn’t get anything going. Baseball is a sport that’s supposed to be played every day. We played two days last week. Then we watched the weather and it was pouring. Baseball is tough mentally. Then not to know (whether you’re playing or not) makes it even harder.”
Senior Jake Napier took the loss for Campbell County. Napier pitched five innings striking out five to go with four hits, four earned runs and three walks. Junior Max Lause pitched the sixth striking out one.
CovCath took a 1-0 lead after two innings. Junior designated hitter Max Lawrie walked and Dieruf doubled him to third. Burke then singled to center to score Lawrie.
“We did a really good job of capitalizing when we had runners on base,” Burke said. “I know Campbell County is a really good team. They might have struggled offensively. But we just dug out a win. Coach Krumps does a really good job moving runners over with the bunt. Then the big hitters can capitalize with big hits and drive them home.”
CovCath tried to land a squeeze bunt to add another run. But the bunt did not get down and Campbell County chased down Dieruf before Napier struck out CovCath sophomore second baseman Owen Leen to end the inning.
The Colonels took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Reardon walked and stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Senior left fielder Evan Myers hit a ground ball scoring Reardon. The field umpire initially ruled Myers out. But the home plate umpire ruled him safe on the appeal leading to the game’s lone error.
“This is the time to start turning it around,” Krumpelbeck said. “(The young guys) are a big part of it. They know it. They’re getting better every day.”
CovCath added three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Reardon drew a hit by pitch with one out and advanced to third when senior right fielder Nick Darpel singled. Myers then walked to load the bases and junior catcher Jonathan Fitz hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Reardon giving the Colonels a 3-0 advantage with two out.
Darpel advanced to third on the sacrifice fly and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 Colonels. Myers moved to third on the same wild pitch and score when Lawrie singled to make it 5-0 Colonels.
Campbell County dented the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. The Camels loaded the bases and sophomore catcher Parker Schweitzer singled to left to score Fowler making it 5-1 Colonels before Lenhof escaped the jam striking out junior first baseman Braden Kramer.
“He just pounded the zone with strikes. He kept it down,” Coach Schweitzer said. “He changed his speeds. He pitched a great game. I was really impressed with how he commanded the zone with three pitches and just kept us off-balance all day. Jonathan Fitz behind the plate is tough to run on. It seemed like every inning we got something going, we had a guy caught stealing then struck us out. We had a chance with the tying run at second and there’s not much more you can ask than that.”
Campbell County scored two more in the top of the seventh to make the final score. With one out, Vineyard singled and Fowler doubled him to third before junior shortstop Aydan Hamilton walked to load the bases.
Wagner came in and struck out senior pinch hitter Austin Little for the second out. But Gross doubled just off the glove of Myers in left scoring Vineyard and Fowler. But Wagner got Campbell County junior right fielder Brayden Wells to fly out to Dieruf in center to end the game.
CovCath takes on Bishop Brossart (7-5-1) in Park Hills at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Campbell County faces three 10th Region opponents this week starting with Pendleton County at 5 p.m.
Baseball:
St. Henry 11, Holy Cross 1:
St Henry (9-3-1 overall) played at Meinken Field in Covington for the second day and pulled away late for a 9th Region win over the Indians (3-10).
The Crusaders led 3-1 after four innings. They scored once in the fifth then pulled away with five in the sixth inning before tacking on two more in the seventh.
“It took us a couple innings. I knew we were going to be kind of flat coming off the tough loss,” said Greg Pass, St. Henry Head Coach. “Once they started going, they were able to get a good lead and bring it home.”
Senior Clay Duckworth (4-0) started the game and picked up the win. He pitched into the third inning striking out two, walking two and allowing four hits and one unearned run. Sophomore Carson Shea took over in the third and pitched through the sixth inning striking out six and allowing one hit before senior Connor Albrinck pitched the seventh allowing one walk.
St. Henry batted .276 (8 for 29) with two players recording multi-hit games. Junior center fielder Matthew Resing went 2 for 4 with a double, five RBI and one run scored. Sophomore second baseman/shortstop John Lubert went 2 for 4 with a double. Senior Carter Scheben homered driving in two to go with two walks and a run scored.
The Crusaders capitalized on eight walks. Senior third baseman Camden Fedders scored three times with senior right fielder Eli Meiman, junior left fielder Sam Martin and senior shortstop Luke Mason scoring two runs each.
St. Henry stole 11 bases in the game. Fedders swiped four with Resing, Meiman and Mason stealing two each.
“We were able to take advantage of the speed and get our guys into scoring position,” Pass said. “The first few innings were tough on our guys getting used to going from (Beechwood junior pitcher) Mitchell Berger to a lot slower pitching. We were able to make an adjustment after that.”
Holy cross batted .192 (5 for 26) in the loss. Junior second baseman Riley Harbor went 2 for 4 to lead the Indians. Holy Cross junior designated hitter Will Lachmann added a double.
St. Henry travels to Villa Madonna on Wednesday for a 5 p.m. game. Holy Cross plays host to Beechwood at 5 p.m.
Monday, April 11 Softball Score:
New Richmond (Ohio) 14, Bishop Brossart 4 (6 innings)
Sunday, April 10 Softball Score:
Nicholas County 8, Bishop Brossart 2
Sunday, April 10 Baseball Score:
Bishop Brossart 5, Bracken County 1