District Tournament Update: Corbin wins baseball, softball championships

Update (Thursday): Corbin has once again swept the district, with the softball team winning their second consecutive 50th District crown, and the baseball team capturing their third straight championship trophy.

In softball action Thursday at Whitley County High School, the Lady Hounds were able to outlast South Laurel in a nailbiter of a game, ultimately taking the 8-7 victory to enter into next week’s 13th Region tournament with an overall record of 16 wins and 7 losses. Senior Halia Stidham pitched a complete game for Corbin, striking out five Lady Cardinal batters. She also recorded two hits in the win. Fellow senior Katlin Williams went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs.

The Redhounds baseball team got off to a rough start in their district finals contest against host Whitley County Thursday, with the Colonels jumping out to a commanding 6-0 lead in the top of the third inning. At this point they looked almost like a lock to advance to the 2018 13th Region tournament as 50th District champs, but Corbin began to battle back, scoring one run in the bottom of the third inning and five in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game up at 6-6.

Whitley went back on top in the sixth inning by one run, but the Hounds scored three more of their own to go back up, 9-7. The Colonels were only able to muster one more run before the final out, falling 9-8 to give them a 23-11 overall record. With the win, Corbin improves to 21-12.

Senior Kyle Edmisten did most of the work on the mound for Whitley County Thursday, striking out four batters in 4.2 innings. Dylan Wilson, Jonathon Watson and Jake Prewitt each recorded two hits apiece for the home team.

Matthew Creekmore and Jaidyn Swanner teamed up on the mound for Corbin to strike out four Colonel batters between the third and seventh innings. Seniors Matty Hart and Josh Hash each had three RBIs in the win.

The Corbin Lady Hounds, Redhounds and the Whitley County Colonels will all now advance to this year’s 13th Region championship tournaments. Whitley will host the baseball region, with the softball region being played at North Laurel High School in London. Both tournaments are scheduled to kick off on Memorial Day.

For coverage from this year’s 13th Region tournaments, be sure to look inside the May 30 print edition of the News Journal!

Original (Wednesday): After the completion of the Whitley County versus Williamsburg baseball contest Wednesday evening, the 2018 50th District championship games are set to take place Thursday at WCHS.

As reported in Wednesday’s print edition of the News Journal, the Corbin Lady Hounds defeated Williamsburg, and the South Laurel Lady Cardinals defeated Whitley County earlier this week to set up a Corbin versus South game for this year’s 50th District softball championship. That game was originally scheduled to be played Thursday evening at 7:00 pm, but has since been rescheduled to Thursday at 5:30 pm.

The 50th District baseball finals will feature Corbin and Whitley County after the Redhounds overcame wet conditions and a determined South Laurel team late Tuesday evening to secure a 9-6 victory. The Colonels found themselves trailing Williamsburg 3-0 even later in the evening Tuesday when thick fog forced the remainder of the game to be postponed to Wednesday.

When play resumed, the Yellow Jackets were able to extend their lead out to 6-1 by the top of the fourth inning. It looked as if they would be on their way to the district championship game, but the Colonels mounted a comeback, scoring two runs in the fifth inning and five in the sixth to eventually take the 8-6 win. Four of Whitley’s five runs in the sixth inning were courtesy of a grand slam home run by junior Caleb Rains.

The Colonels (23-10) will host the Redhounds (20-12) after the conclusion of the district softball championship Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled for approximately 7:30 pm. Look here for more updates on those contests as they become available.