Solid defense helps Lady Jags advance past Knox Central, 4-3
May 31—HARROGATE, Tennessee — The North Laurel Lady Jaguars have punched their ticket to the 13th Region Fast Pitch Softball Tournament Championship game after defeating the Knox Central Lady Panthers on Monday night, 4-3.
North Laurel Coach Chris Edwards said it was his team's defense that really helped to seal the win against the Lady Panthers on Monday night and give the Lady Jaguars a chance to fight for the 13th Region title.
"We played great defense and had great pitching," said Edwards. "We had a couple of timely hits, as well. Hats off to Knox Central, they played extremely well. They have got nothing to hang their head about, we just got a little better break than they did tonight."
Hallie Proffitt got the win for the Lady Jaguars from the circle, as she pitched for five and one-third innings where she allowed three runs, two earned runs and had five strikeouts on the night. North Laurel's Bailee Root came in on relief where she pitched for one and two-thirds innings, allowing zero runs and had three strikeouts.
"We made every play that we should have in the field, every defensive play," Edwards said. "We've been doing it for the last three or four weeks, we've been catching everything we should have and we just did that again tonight. We are such a better team when we do that. We've got to do it one more time to get out of this region but it's good when we do those things."
On the offensive side of the ball, the Lady Jaguars' Braylee Fawbush, Madison Parman, Ellie Adams and Katie Sams each had one RBI on the night to help get North Laurel on the scoreboard. Bella Sizemore led the Lady Jaguars with three hits and had two runs scored while Fawbush and Adams each had two hits on the night.
North Laurel will be facing the Corbin Lady Redhounds in the 13th Region Fast Pitch Softball Tournament Championship game today (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. at Lincoln Memorial University. The Lady Redhounds are coming off a 14-0 win over the Middlesboro Lady Jackets in the semifinals on Monday night.
"We've just got to continue to pitch and play defense," Edwards said when asked what his team needed to do to get a win in the finals. "We hit the ball really well tonight, just seemed to be right at people. Knox Central made a lot of plays, as well. We just need to find a couple more gaps, make a couple more plays and we'll see how it goes."
