The Post No. 32 Athletics finished its regular season American Legion schedule this week with victories over Peachtree City Post No. 50 and Douglasville Post No. 145 to improve its record to 15-2 on the year.

At Peachtree City on Tuesday, Post No. 32 dispatched Post No. 50 by a score of 15-3. Drew Buckhault (Eastside HS grad going to Cleveland State) got the start for the A’s and went six strong innings before yielding to Hank Steele (Eastside grad going to Middle Georgia State) for two scoreless innings and Cale Brown (George Walton Academy) closed the game to notch the win.

At Thursday’s home game against Douglasville, the Covington squad put up a run in the first inning with combined singles from Cale Brown, Dom Bazzani (Heritage HS grad going to Perimeter College) and Zach Beggs (Piedmont Academy), but found themselves behind early after Post No. 145 plated a pair of runs in its half of the frame courtesy of a leadoff walk and an error that was followed by a base hit to give Douglasville a 2-1 lead. With Eastside junior Gray Ritchey on the mound and settled in for Post No. 32, those would be the last runs scored in the contest for Douglasville.

After a scoreless second inning, Covington evened the score at two in the third with a pair of hits from Hunter Ballard (Eastside) and Bazzani. Steele reached on a single in the fourth, but was left stranded. Post No. 32 then took a commanding 6-2 lead in the fourth with a barrage of hits beginning with Dalton Reagin (Alcovy HS grad going to Perimeter College), Bazzani, Beggs, Buckhault and Blake Shope (Alcovy, junior).

Ritchey continued to roll through the Douglasville roster and limited them to six hits while striking out 10 and only walking two men in his six innings of work. Meanwhile, the pitching for Post No. 145 began to break down in the seventh with three consecutive singles from Ryan Sutton (Heritage HS grad), Brown and Reagin followed by five walks as another four runs crossed the plate.

Things got worse for Douglasville in the eighth inning with walks, errors, hit batters, a Buckhault single and a double off the bat of Brown accounting for six runs in the inning to make the score 16-2. Shope assumed the pitching duties for Covington in the seventh and eighth inning and logged three strikeouts in his two scoreless innings of work.

Covington Post No. 32 will be in action again next week as the American Legion State Tournament in Albany begins on July 24th and runs through July 28th.