By Thomas Sellers Jr.
COVINGTON — Two District 15-2A team still trying to find their identities arrived Monday afternoon to the Covington Baseball Field.
The March 29 match up between the Millington Trojans and Covington Chargers was scheduled for a doubleheader. So both squads had plenty of chances to shape the identity they want in May.
The upstart Trojan have a young head coach in Colter Millican and are looking to move up the ranking in district. Meanwhile the perennial powerhouse Chargers under the guidance of Brad Warmath are trying to get back to that championship form.
In Game One of the doubleheader Covington emerged with an 11-0 victory in five innings behind the solid pitching of Holden Warmath.
“We got some timely hits with guys in scoring position,” Coach Warmath noted. “We were able to put together some hits. Something we really haven’t done coming into this game.”
Prior to the Millington games, Covington had been enduring an up and down 2021 campaign.
“One day we would go out and look like we could beat anybody,” Warmath said. “The next day different story. We were .500 coming into this game here — up and down.”
The first Millington game would fit into the up category with Holden Warmath recording a strikeout, ground out and fly ball. Covington got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning when Christopher Godwin drove in Holden Warmath who reached base with a double.
The Chargers’ 1-0 lead grew into a 6-0 advantage in the second inning starting with a Warmath RBI single. Then Godwin was back at it again with a double scoring a pair of teammates.
The Chargers’ advantage grew to 5-0 when Carson Ruffin stroked a base hit to score a runner. The finally run of the second frame came courtesy of Paxton Messer.
Warmath gave up a single to Trojan Tyler Jordan in the third inning but struck out the other three Millington batters. Then it was time Covington to execute another five-run inning.
The first run of the third inning was scored by Braden Gover when teammate Brennen Forbess drove him in with a single. After a pass ball made the score 8-0 in favor of Covington, Godwin drove in his fourth and fifth runs of the game with a double.
Messer made it 11-0 after three innings with a hit scoring a run. Warmath and the Chargers avoided a couple of Millington rallies with key strikeouts and timely defense. Covington was able to head into Game Two over .500 and unbeaten in league play.
“We have to stay focus, execute and she we put them in situational hitting execute the game plan,” Coach Warmath said. “Do what they’re coached to do. If they do that, I think they can be successful. That’s the main thing we’re going to focus on.
“We have to play every game hard,” he concluded. “We can’t take a game off. We can’t take an at-bat off. We’re just not good enough to do that. They’ve got to go out and be focused. We have to regroup and do the things we’re coached to do.”
