Corbin cruises to region finals with 14-0 win over Middlesboro
May 31—HARROGATE, Tennessee — The Corbin Lady Redhounds are moving onto the 13th Region Fast Pitch Softball Tournament Championship after defeating the Middlesboro Lady Jackets in dominating fashion on Monday, 14-0.
"Awesome win for my girls tonight (Monday), just really proud of them and how they played — they came to play," said Coach Crystal Stidham. "We started off right away in the first inning, were able to notch off seven runs in that first inning and just kept their noses on it, kept driving runs in, running the bases really well. Defense showed up ready to play and the bats were on tonight, so that was a good thing."
Corbin's Danni Foley helped to get the win for the Lady Redhounds, as she pitched a complete game on Monday night to shut out the Lady Jackets. Foley allowed only three hits on the night and had seven strikeouts.
"Can't say enough about my freshman Danni Foley — coming in and pitching a shutout tonight," Stidham said. "My defense was excellent behind her. We had Kallie Housley and Bailey Stewart behind her, just taking plays away that could've been hits. Defense just had their heads in the game. Kaila (Stidham) was on third (base), just making plays."
The Lady Redhounds got scoring going early on Monday night with an impressive seven runs in the first inning, taking an early 7-0 lead. A double by Bailey Stewart, followed by a single by Alayna Reynolds and a single by Foley helped to push in two runs for Corbin and get scoring going for the Lady Redhounds.
"We needed to be ready to go, get that mentality behind us to take charge of the game and just keeps our heads in it and just continue to keep that momentum," Stidham said. "I was really proud of how we started right off. We were the visiting team on the board, so I told him let's get ahead and stay ahead and that's what they did."
Corbin didn't find home plate again until the fourth inning when a double by Kaila Stidham and a single by Raegan Walker helped to push two more runs in for the Lady Redhounds, 9-0.
Corbin sealed the win in the top of the seventh inning with five runs to give the Lady Redhounds 14 runs.
The Lady Redhounds strung together 12 hits on the night, with Reynolds, Foley, Stidham and Walker each having two hits a piece. Walker led Corbin with three RBIs while Kallie Housley and Stidham each had two RBIs in the matchup against Middlesboro.
With the win, Corbin will be facing North Laurel at 7 p.m. today (Tuesday) in the 13th Region Fast Pitch Softball Tournament Championship game at Lincoln Memorial University.
"We've been playing every game one game at a time, you know, not looking past anybody else but playing our kind of ball, Lady Redhound softball," Stidham said. "I told them we needed to take that fire out there tomorrow night (Tuesday) and play both sides of the ball in the championship game. They are very much behind each other, they want it really bad and there's a lot of unity on the team, so we've just got to keep riding that wave and push through to come out with the region title. Let's go Lady Redhounds."
