Corbin softball falls to North Laurel in 13th Region semifinals

 As reported in the 5/27 edition of The News Journal, the Corbin Lady Redhounds softball team (12-21) defeated visiting Knox Central Monday night 20-3 to advance to the semifinal round of this year’s 13th Region tournament. In the region semis the Lady Hounds would come up against North Laurel (23-11), who defeated Harlan County 10-0 Monday night to advance to play again on Tuesday.

North had beaten Corbin twice already this spring (9-2 and 10-0), so the host Lady Hounds were eager to get some revenge against the Lady Jaguars and advance to the region championship game in the process. It was not to be, however, as the Hounds would eventually fall by a final score of 6-5 after giving up three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Freshman pitcher Halia Stidham had a very solid outing for Corbin, and a four-run fifth inning gave the Lady Hounds a 4-2 lead. North Laurel scored one run in the sixth to make it 4-3, but the Lady Jags gave up a run in the top of the seventh to allow the home team to retake a two-run lead, 5-3.

The Lady Jags had to do something in the bottom of the seventh inning, and they did, scoring three runs to grab a thrilling victory and end Corbin’s season one game short of a region championship appearance.

After the game, Lady Hounds Head Coach Jake Mahan was upbeat, saying, "Our motto going into this year was we want to be the best team we can be by the end of the year. We all knew early on that we had the potential to play well, and we got to see that play out tonight. There were still a few things that we didn’t do well, and that may have determined this game, but we hit today, we bunted today, and we executed today. We got some great pitching as well. We’re just going to get back to work now. We’re going to have some fun in the offseason and get ready for next season."