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13th Region Baseball Tournament
Posted On 24 May 2009
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For Corbin to win the 13th Region Baseball Tournament, the Redhounds will have to play sharp and smart for three days. They will have to go through the best teams with the best records to achieve that feat.
It all begins with Clay County at 4 p.m. Monday at Whitley County High School.
The Redhounds, 16-14-1 played the Tigers twice during the regular season losing the first game, 9-5 at Corbin and later in the season, 9-3 at Clay County.
“We knew we were going to get Knox Central, Bell County or Clay County,” said Corbin Coach Jeff Garmon. “Going into today, it really didn’t make much difference. If you go by people’s records, for us Knox Central might have been the easier draw, but you are going to have to play them to beat them.”
“For us to win this tournament we are going to have to play Clay, Bell and then South Laurel,” said Garmon. “It is what it is and that’s the disadvantage you come in when you are a runner-up instead of a district winner.”
“Other than that, it doesn’t bother me at all,” Garmon said. “We are going to show up over there Monday at 4 p.m. and do the best that we can do. We will have everybody ready to throw and do everything we possibly can to win that first game. You have to win the first one to get to the second one, so to me it really doesn’t matter who we play that first game.”
The tournament will get underway Monday at 10 a.m. when the Harlan County Black Bears, a first-round district winner over Middlesboro, plays South Laurel. The Bears got a stellar performance on the mound from 8th grade curve-baller, Tyler Boggs.
Harlan County, 8-18, defeated the 20-4 Cardinals earlier in the season 7-1.
South Laurel will likely have Matthew Martin or Luke Rakestraw on the mound.
The favored Bell County Bobcats, the defending champions, will take on Barbourville in the second game at 1 p.m.
Bell County is 18-7 on the year and 14-2 in region play, losing to South Laurel and Whitley County. The Bobcats rely on senior Spencer Greer for team leadership, both on the mound and offensively.
Game three will be the Redhounds taking on Clay County. Corbin is led by seniors Cory Sewell, Eric Salmons, Josh Smith, Blake Henderickson and Logan Matlock. The Redhounds started the season strong winning seven of their first nine games, but ended the season losing six of the last eight games.
The nightcap will feature the Knox Central Panthers against Jackson County. The Panthers may have the easiest opening game with the 11-8 Generals. The Generals were 3-3 in the region but during the regular season played only Barbourville of the eight teams in the tournament. They lost to Clay County, 9-2 in the district final.
Knox Central finished the season 10-13 and 9-11 within the region.
