CORBIN — Two 13th Region heavyweights met on the diamond on Friday, and turned in a thriller.
Eight innings, a combined 28 runs, and 33 hits later, defending region champion North Laurel did just enough to pull out a 15-13 win over Corbin.
The game had it all.
North Laurel jumped out to an 8-2 lead after three and a half innings of play, but the Lady Redhounds continued to battle, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fourth to make the score, 8-7.
The Lady Jaguars added three runs in the top of the fifth, extending their lead to 11-7 only to see Corbin add five more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 12-11 advantage.
Crystal Stidham’s squad held the lead until the top of the seventh when Ellie Adams’ ground out scored Emma Carl, tying the game at 12 apiece.
The Lady Redhounds loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t push across a run.
Freshman Lucy Jo Linville drove in Morgan Edwards to make the score 13-12 in the top of the eighth while run-scoring hits by Carl and Saige McClure pushed North Laurel’s lead to 15-12.
But after allowing a run-scoring hit by Kaili Sanders to lead off the bottom of the 13th, Carl struck out the next three Lady Redhound batters to secure the win.
“Hats off to Corbin for making a good comeback,” North Laurel coach Chris Edwards said. “At one point, we were up 8-2 and they came all the way back to take the lead. Offensively, we had 20 hits with multiple hits from Katie Sams, Emma Carl, Saige McClure, Ellie Adams, Bella Finley and Lucy Linville. Several other girls had hits as well — five more extra base hits tonight including two home runs.”
McClure came up huge for the Lady Jaguars, going 5-for-6 with a home run, six RBI, and two runs scored. Adams delivered a home run, finishing with two hits, three RBI, and one run scored. Bella Finley and Linville finished with two hits and an RBI apiece while Katie Sams had two hits, two RBI, and two runs scored. Carl’s delivered four hits, an RBI, and three runs scored while Katie Keen had a hit, and scored three times. Bella Sizemore drove in a run, and scored once while Morgan Edwards finished with a hit, and a run scored. Tessa Monhollen also had a hit.
Monhollen started the game, lasting 4.1 innings while allowing eight hits and seven earned runs. She struck out six batters. Carl got the win, pitching the final 3.2 innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs while striking out nine batters.
“Pitching wise we threw fine, probably too many walks but we hadn’t played since Monday, so there was some rust,” Edwards said. “Also only had one error, so we played pretty well in the field. We also ran the bases pretty well. Some bad base coaching by me got us into a little jam at one point, but Bella Sizemore got me out of that mistake.
“As much as I want to, we aren’t going to play perfect softball every night,” he added. “I really did like the fight our girls showed tonight, especially when we did get behind and had to score just to force extra innings. Tessa and Emma dug in and fought hard in the circle tonight and we will need more of that as the season goes on.
“Hats off to Corbin tonight for the fight they showed as well,” Edwards added. “No one better look past them at any point in the season. Now we gotta get home, get some rest and get ready for two more big games tomorrow and district play starts for us next week. Proud of my girls tonight. Go Jags.”
Morgan Hicks led the Lady Redhounds with three hits and four RBI while Raegan Walker had two hits, four RBI, and three runs scored. Lydia King had two hits and drove in a run while Kaili Sanders delivered two hits and one RBI. Apple Terrell also had two hits while Danni Foley finished with a hit, an RBI, and a run scored. Alana Stidham scored once while Olivia Anderson scored twice.
Foley tossed four innings, allowing five earned runs while striking out eight batters. Terrell pitched four innings, giving up six earned runs while striking out a batter.
