TOUGH LOSS

Nothing went right for the Corbin Junior League All-Stars Tuesday night in their quest to win the District Four Tournament and advance to the state tournament.

They were unable to hit the ball and made many costly errors in a 11-2 loss to the Hazard-Perry County All-Stars.

Hazard-Perry County jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back in winning the District Four Title.

Corbin gets revenge

Last week when Corbin lost to North Laurel in the District Four Junior League Tournament, Coach Gary Helton said his team couldn’t get the big hit with runners in scoring position. That wasn’t the case Monday night as Corbin pounded out eight hits that accounted for 11 RBI’s in a 16-6 rout of North Laurel.

The win sent Corbin into the championship series against Hazard where they will have to knock off the Perry County team twice if they hope to reach the Junior League State Tournament.

“They have always eliminated us,” Coach Gary Helton said. “This is the first time we have eliminated them.”

“Conner (Hicks) pitched a great game. He got us the innings we needed and we were able to bring Corey (Ledington) in and we can still use him tomorrow as well as Alec (Gambrel).”

“We did a great job on our pitching and we are going into these next two games with all of our pitchers except Conner,” Helton said.

“We hit the ball tonight and that’s all we have worked on since the last time we played North Laurel,” Helton added. “We were patient at the plate and we hit the ball pretty good. We had some big hits tonight.”

Corbin came out hitting the ball early in the game. After a walk to Hicks, Ledington hit a hard shot over the North Laurel second baseman that scored Hicks. Ledington went into second base with a stand up double, the first of three on the night.

The hard hitting Jaxon Stewart lined a shot down the right field line that saw the Corbin catcher touch all for bases for an inside the park home run and give the local team a 3-0 lead.

It was a lead Corbin would never lose although North Laurel made a game of it. North Laurel closed to within 3-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second.

However, Corbin scored five runs in the top of the third when Jack Capobianco had trouble getting the ball down the strike zone. He walked Stewart and Carter before striking out Ethan Wilson. Stewart was thrown out trying to take third on a pick-off play at first and it appeared North Laurel was out of trouble.

Braden Sevier walked, but was replaced on the bases by Tyler Emery. Emery quickly stole second, getting the runners in scoring position. Tanner Barnes followed with a base hit over second, scoring Carter for a 4-2 lead.

Cole Brock then drew a walk to load the bases and Michael May hit a three-run single to left field as Corbin went ahead 7-2. May was thrown out going to second.

North Laurel refused to quit and had their biggest inning of the game in the bottom of the third. However, five straight hits off Hicks didn’t distract the Corbin pitcher. He struck out Tory Bowling and got Williams to hit into a fielder’s choice. Ryan Abner unloaded a double to score two runs and North Laurel was within 7-6.

Hicks got Capobianco to ground out to May at second to end the inning.

Corbin, who scored in every inning but the second, had its biggest run total in the top of the fourth while facing three North Laurel pitchers.

Four Corbin players were walked and two hit by pitches. May had his second base clearing hit of the game when his triple down the left field line gave Corbin a 13-6 lead.

Hicks and Ledington combined to shut down North Laurel in the bottom of the fourth. Hicks threw his limit of 95 pitches and were replaced by Ledington.

Ledington opened the top of the fifth with a double over Abner in center field. He went to third on a hit by Stewart and scored on a passed ball for a 14-6 score.

Ledington struck out two of the three North Laurel batters in the fifth and got Sasser to pop out to first.

Corbin added two runs in the top of the sixth when Ryan VanNostran walked with one out. He went to second on a ground out by May and to third on a single past the shortstop by Hicks. Ledington then blasted his third double of the night to push the two runners across the plate for a 16-6 lead.

Gambrel came on to put the finishing touches on for Corbin. He got Williams to fly out to Barnes in center field and got Abner to ground out to second. Capobianco reach first on an infield error, but Braxton Hicks lined out to first to end the game.

“North Laurel has an outstanding team,” Helton added. “It just goes to show how much hard work these guys have put in over the summer to get ready for this tournament.”

Corbin will have to beat Hazard twice to reach the state tournament that starts later this week in Louisville.

Corbin 16, North Laurel 6

Corbin                        304  612- 16   8   2

North Laurel            024  000-   6   9   4

   Hicks, Ledington (4), Gambrel (6) and Stewart. Capobianco, Brooks (3), Sasser (4), Houston (4) and Feltner. WP-Hicks, LP-Capobianco. 2B-Ledington, 3 (C), Abner (NL). 3B-May. HR-Stewart.